THE 


New 
Egg  Farm 


H.  H,  Stoddard 


r 


REESE  LIBRARY 

OF  TIII: 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Deceived 


e/liression  No 


.    7  & 


/ 


.   Class  No. 


I 


THE 
NEW 
EGG 
FARM 


Or  the 
management 
of  poultry 
on  a  large 
scale  for 
commercial 
purposes 


4- 


A  practical  manual  and  reliable  handbook  upon  producing  eggs  and 
poultry  for  market  as  a  profitable  business  enterprise,  either  by  itself  or 
connected  with  other  branches  of  agriculture. 


By  H.  H.  STODDARD 

For  many  years  editor  Poultry  World  and  American  Poultry  Yard, 
Author  of  An  Egy  Farm,  etc.,  etc. 


An  entirely  new  work,  embodying  all  that  is  most  valuable  from  the 
author's  first  book,  to  which  are  added  the  results  of  a  lifetime  of  work, 
invention,  improvement  and  observation  in  the  vast  and  growing  commercial 
poultry  industry  in  all  sections  of  the  country. 


NEARLY  150  ILLUSTRATIONS 


New  York 

ORANGE  JUDD  COMPANY 

1900 


Copyright  1899 

BY 

ORANGE  JUDD  COMPANY 

78  7/2 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Portrait  of  Author— Frontispiece 

1  Diagram  for  egg  farm -  13 

2  Coop  of  growing  chicks       -  -         24 

3  Stone  cutter's  dray  .       ..       .  _  -       •  27 

4  Scraper  for  dry  earth 


5  Shovel  for  dry  earth     - 

6  Platform  for  drying  earth 

7  Loading  dry  earth 


30 

-        -        -  31 
32 

8  Bottonfof  dray     -                                              .               -  33 

9  House  for  layers — winter  arrangement                           .  36 

10  House  for  layers — summer  arrangement         ...  49 

11  Winter  quarters  for  laying  stock      -       -                      -  41 

12  Pen  for  moving  fowls  42 

13  House  for  early  hatched  pullets                               -       -  48 

14  House  for  breeders       -                                                     -  52 

15  Yard  and  houses  for  breeders     -       ...  53 

16  Movable  fence        -  54 

17  Feed  shelf       -------              .       _  55 

18  Hammer  for  feed  shelf  56 

19  Sash  pulley     -  58 

20  Office  and  watch  house       -  -       -  .59 

21  House  for  sitters    -  63 

22  House  for  sitters— interior                                                -  64 

23  Plan  of  yards  for  sitters -  66 

24  Coop  for  sitters     ------  76 

25  Apparatus  for  sitters    ----  --.77 

26  Apparatus  for  sitters    ----               .       .       _  73 

27  Ground  plan  of  hatching  house                                       -  82 

28  Section  of  covered  yard       -                                      -       -  83 

29  Interior  of  hatching  house         -  84 

30  Feed  shelf  and  gate      -  86 

31  Inside  of  house  for  sitters  94 

32  Details  of  apparatus  for  sitters                 -       -       -       -  97 

33  Coop  for  hen  and  chicks      -------  93 

34  Boards  and  cleats  99 

35  Diagram  of  coop    -----                      _  100 

36  Feed  box  for  chicks      -       .-                      -       -       -       -  100 

37  Feed  box  with  grating                        -    '           -  103 

38  Arrangement  for  opening  feed  boxes                              -  105 

39  Dubbed  White  Leghorns     -               -       -       -       -       -  107 

40  Manner  of  numbering  nests       -                              -  126 

41  Eggs  laid  by  old  hens                   ------  134 

42  Eggs  laid  by  pullets      --------  135 

43  Shelter  for  chickens     -       -                                      -       -  136 

44  Shelter  of  rails  and  straw   -------  137 

45  Granary  and  cookhouse       -------  139 

46  East  side  view  of  granary  showing  driveway        -       -  140 

47  Ground  plan  of  granary  and  cookhouse        •-       -       -  142 

48  House  for  early  chickens    -------  143 


VI  LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


49 
51 

Hospital  for  egg  farm 

144 

147 

52 

The  harvest    -----       

j.^i 

148 

53 

Weeder  and  soil  stirring  implement       - 

150 

58 

Netting  for  feed  dropper     - 

153 

59 

Strips  soldered  together      __._-__ 

154 

60 

Feed  cylinder        --__--__. 

155 

61 

End  piece  of  feed  cylinder  in  position     - 

156 

62 

Crank  for  wooden  shaft       -       - 

157 

63 

End  of  row  of  feed  cylinders 

159 

64 

Fence  ratchet         

160 

65 

Row  of  feed  cylinders          

161 

66 

Chicks  responding  to  food  signal 

162 

67 

Wrought  iron  crank     ------ 

163 

68 

Crank  wheel           - 

164 

69 

Crank 

1  £!  t 

70 

End  of  shaft    

lOi 

165 

71 

Details  of  tilt  box  and  cylinder         ----- 

166 

72 

Tilt  box—  reverse  of  Fig.  76        - 

167 

73 

Using  the  tilt  box         -------- 

168 

74 

Tilt  box  on  pole     

169 

75 

76 

Device  for  jarring  feed  apparatus    - 
Transverse  section  of  tilt  box   - 

170 
173 

77 

Interior  with  tilt  boxes       - 

174 

78 

Row  of  tilt  boxes  from  end 

175 

79 

Tilt  boxes  partly  turned     - 

176 

80 

Tilt  boxes  turned 

178 

81 

Fowls  at  exercise 

180 

82 

Series  of  runways 

181 

83 
84 

Ground  plan  of  runways     -       -       -       -       -       -       - 
Apparatus  seen  from  the  end     - 

182 
184 

85 

Crank  with  set  screw  - 

187 

86 

Exerciser  for  water  fowl     ------- 

188 

87 

Shaft  and  collar     --------- 

191 

88 

Wooden  lever  for  axle  of  tilt  box     - 

192 

89 

Feed  pouch     - 

193 

90 

Rounded  bearing  for  square  shaft    - 

194 

91 

Transverse  section  of  axle  shatt 

195 

92 

Shaft  for  outdoor  feed  boxes 

196 

93 
94 

Shaft  partly  revolved 
Shaft,  pouch  and  cylinder  - 

198 

198 

95 

Shaft,  pouch  and  cylinder 

200 

96 
97 

Pen  and  yards  with  ro^  of  feed  cylinders 
Homemade  shaft  and  cylinder 

202 
204 

98 

Block  and  bolts  to  fasten  tilt  box  to  axle 

205 

99 

Wooden  spool  frame,  etc.    ------- 

207 

100 

Transverse  section  of  Fig.  99     - 

208 

101 

A  feeding  sieve      ------- 

209 

102 

Brooder  house,  lamp  system 

210 

103 
104 

Alternate  system  for  brooder  house 
Lid  of  feed  sieve    -------- 

213 
214 

105 

End  view  of  feed  sieve         - 

215 

106 

Pen  with  feed  sieves    -       -       -       - 

216 

107 
108 

Spiral  spring 
Top  view  of  sieve         ------- 

217 
217 

109 

Protected  feed  shelf     ------ 

110 

Feed  box  on  wooden  shaft          __-_-_ 

220 

111 

Shelf  with  concussion  bar 

221 

112 

Caster  wheel  under  shelf    ------- 

222 

LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Yll 


113  Lever  for  feed  shelf 

114  A  substitute  for  tilt  box 

115  Shelves  with  cleats  and  bar       ---- 

116  Apparatus  for  moving  shelf 

117  Transverse  section  of  house  for  layers 

118  Longitudinal  section  of  house  for  layers        - 

119  Apparatus  for  moving  shelf        - 

120  Crank  made  of  piping 

121  Piece  for  attaching  shaft  to  spool 

122  Homemade  apparatus  for  moving  shelf 

123  Feed  trough—  side  view  ___ 

124  Feed  trough  closed,  side  view    ---- 

125  Feed  trough  apparatus        ----- 

126  Trip  gong  bell         -       -       - 

127  Wire  for  gong         -       -       - 

128  Interior  alternate  system 

129  Transverse  section  of  house,  alternate  system 

130  Ground  plan  of  house,  alternate  system         - 

131  Tilt  box  for  brooder  chicks        ---- 

132  House  for  layers    ------- 

133  Large  hand  wheel         ------ 

134  Screw  pulley  -----  __ 

135  Ground  plan  of  house  for  layers 

136  Hot  water  heating  system  ..... 

137  Brooder  house       --_.___ 

138  Shaft  with  winch          ------ 

139  Plan  of  brooder  house          - 

140  Ground  plan  of  brooder  house 

141  Tilt  box  with  flap         - 

142  Tilt  box,  parallel  system     -       - 

143  Light  tilt  box         - 

144  Tilt  box,  parallel  system    - 

145  Watching  chicks  at  exercise      - 


223 
224 
225 
226 
227 
228 
229 
230 
231 
232 
233 
233 
236 
237 
237 
238 
239 
240 
241 
242 
243 
243 
246 
247 
249 
250 
251 
253 
254 
256 
258 
262 
264 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACK 

I  Introductory       -----..  1 

II  Location      -                •  8 

III  The  Colony  System            17 

IV  Supplying  Their  Needs 26 

V  Houses  for  Layers 35 

VI  Houses  for  Breeders 51 

VII  Houses  for  Sitters 62 

VIII  Houses  for  Sitters  in  Mild  Climate  74 

IX  Management  in  Mild  Climate  92 

X  Coops  for  Chickens 97 

XI  Fowls  for  Layers  and  Sitters    -                -  102 

XII  The  Kinds  of  Food     -  112 

XHI  Breeding  and  Incubation          ....  us 

XIV  Management  of  Sitters 125 

XV  Management  of  Young  Chickens  ISO 

XVI  Additional  Buildings 139 

XV 11  The  Intensive  System 146 

XVIII  The  Exerciser 152 

XIX  The  Tilt  Box 158 

XX  Outdoor  Exerciser 178 

XXI  Success  with  Ducks 186 

XXII  Perfecting  the  Details 190 

XXIII  For  Soft  Feed 206 

XXIV  Alternate  and  Parallel  Systems  212 
XXV  Healthy,  Vigorous  Birds           -        -        -        -  235 

XXVI  Business  Poultry  Farming  245 

XXVII  Artificial  Incubation 261 

XXVIII  Requisities  of  a  Good  Incubator  266 

XXIX  Care  of  the  Eggs 281 

XXX  The  Incubator  Room 298 

XXXI  Brooders 304 

XXXII  Method  of  Heating  and  Ventilating  Brooders  312 

XXXIII  The  Brooder  of  the  Future  322 

viii 


AN   EGG   FARM. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTORY, 

During  the  last  thirty  years,  farming  has  been  divided 
into  specialties.  The  history  of  modern  industry  shows 
that  it  is  only  through  division  of  labor  that  the  preci- 
sion and  skill  can  be  attained  that  become  necessary  as 
competition  constantly  grows  keener.  Improvements 
in  methods,  and  the  invention  of  labor-saving  machinery, 
are  sure  to  follow  the  establishment  of  an  industry  as  a 
specialty.  Sheep  farms,  farms  for  milk,  others  for  but- 
ter or  cheese,  small  fruits,  vegetable  truck,  etc.,  are  not 
only  common,  but  there  is  a  further  division — a  gardener 
raising  as  a  principal  crop  nothing  but  onions  or  celery, 
an  orchardist  nothing  but  peaches,  and  so  on. 

Eggs  and  poultry  for  the  great  cities  are  now  produced 
in  part  by  extensive  establishments  systematically  con- 
ducted, instead  of  there  being  an  entire  dependence 
upon  the  old,  haphazard  way  of  a  few  on  each  farm. 
The  production  of  eggs,  rather  than  poultry  meat,  must 
always  be  the  key  to  the  poultry  interest,  because  raising 
pullets  for  layers  brings  so  many  supernumerary  cocks, 
that  these,  with  the  fowls  past  their  prime,  always  keep 
the  dressed  poultry  side  of  the  market  better  supplied 
than  the  egg  department,  and  therefore  special  estab- 
lishments for  raising  table  poultry,  winter  chickens  and 
ducks  in  the  northern  states  excepted,  will  not,  in  the 
long  run,  be  demanded. 

i 


2  ATX   EGG    FARM. 

An  account  of  "the  state  of  the  art,"  to  date,  of 
poultry  raising  as  a  separate  branch  of  industry,  should 
include,  not  merely  the  progress  made,  but  a  forecast  of 
the  future.  It  is  only  by  comparing  the  present  with 
twenty  or  thirty  years  ago,  that  the  magnitude  of  the 
great  revolutions  in  industrial  affairs  can  be  realized. 
In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  the  principal  movements 
have  not  yet  spent  their  force  ;  but  great' as  the  changes 
have  been,  they  will,  in  the  next  few  years,  be  vastly 
intensified.  A  generation  ago  a  little  of  almost  every 
principal  article  of  food  was  raised  on  every  farm,  and 
all  consumed  within  a  few  miles,  comparatively,  of 
where  it  was  produced;  while  now  food  production  has 
not  only  been  divided  into  separate  branches,  but  the 
main  divisions  have  been  split  into  an  almost  endless 
number  of  subdivisions,  and  articles  are  common  on 
every  table  that  have  been  carried  thousands  of  miles ; 
this  differentiation  will  go  on  further  and  with  greater 
rapidity  than  has  happened  already. 

The  tendency  of  the  times  is  to  improve  transporta- 
tion, not  only  by  the  main  railroads,  but  by  the  smaller 
lines  and  the  common  roads,  a  tendency  which  promotes 
the  selection  of  the  very  best  locality,  as  regards  soil  and 
climate,  for  carrying  on  any  particular  branch  of  food 
production.  This  choice  of  the  best  place,  aided  by  the 
great  modern  development  of  cold  storage,  and  the  con- 
tinually increasing  facilities  for  transportation  at  reduced 
rates,  will  continue  to  augment  the  production  of  poultry 
in  the  South  Central  states,  or  what  may  be  called  the 
northern  tier  of  the  Southern  states,  and  especially  the 
region  to  the  south,  southeast  and  southwest  of  Kansas 
City,  and  enhance  the  importance  of  the  extensive  or 
colony  plan  of  management  best  adapted  to  a  mild  cli- 
mate, and  which  will  be  described  in  the  following 
pages,  and  the  intensive  plan,  pursued  on  a  compara- 
tively small  plat  of  ground,  will  also  receive  due  atten- 


IXTRODUCTORY.  3 

tion,  since  it  has,  by  the  late  invention  of  labor-saving 
machinery,  been  made  more  feasible  than  previously, 
while  the  art  of  artificial  incubation  has  also  been  per- 
fected. Modifications  of  both  the  intensive  and  exten- 
sive systems  will  be  fully  described  to  suit  the  varying 
needs  of  localities  as  diverse  as  those  in  our  country  of 
magnificent  distances,  while  the  false  and  unnatural 
plans  which  have  ended  in  ruin  during  the  twenty  years 
that  have  seen  the  principal  progress  in  poultry  affairs, 
will  be  treated  but  briefly  and  as  a  warning. 

In  managing  animals  of  any  kind,  we  must  follow 
nature,  for  she  wrill  neither  follow  us  nor  be  driven. 
The  domestication  of  animals  was  only  possible  at  the 
outset  by  proceeding  on  a  natural  groundwork.  To 
illustrate  :  Man  domesticated  dogs  that,  when  wild,  fol- 
lowed one  of  their  own  number  as  a  leader,  by  installing 
himself  as  leader  instead — so  naturalists  state — and  the 
cat  will  never  be  domesticated  in  such  a  way  as  to  fol- 
low her  master  when  he  changes  his  abode,  because 
originally  a  solitary  animal.  Just  so  the  domestication 
of  fowls  was  effected  by  building  upon  an  original  foun- 
dation. In  understanding  the  nature  and  needs  of 
poultry,  it  will  assist  if  we  investigate  the  condition  and 
habits  of  the  wild  parent  stock  in  India,  for  the  nature 
of  all  animals  remains  essentially  the  same  for  long 
periods.  The  transfer  of  our  domesticated  birds  from 
forest  to  farm  has  affected  their  life  and  most  important 
habits  surprisingly  little.  The  tame  fowls  have  the 
same  cries  of  warning  to  each  other,  and  other  language, 
that  observers  have  found  them  to  use  in  their  native 
jangles  ;  they  still  hide  their  nests  in  some  corner,  just 
as  if  they  were  selecting  a  nook  in  a  thicket;  and  they 
are  attached  to  the  premises  where  they  live,  as  they  and 
all  other  gallinaceous  birds  are  to  some  small  district, 
when  wild.  The  wild  jungle  fowl  is  by  no  means  for- 
eign to  our  subject ;  and  in  attempting  to  manage  poul- 


4  AN   EGG   FARM. 

try  by  thousands,  only  a  proper  regard  for  original 
nature  will  prevent  failure.  According  to  this  nature, 
they  live  during  the  breeding  season  in  distinct  families 
under  polygamy.  Each  family  group  has,  by  tacit 
agreement,  a  part  of  the  forest  for  its  beat,  and  the 
exclusion  of  strangers  of  the  same  species  secures  privacy 
and  tranquillity.  They  have  their  freedom,  and  in  that 
word  are  comprehended  the  needful  exercise,  sun,  pure 
air,  shade,  and  varied  diet. 

Some  plans  upon  a  large  scale  have  comprised  small 
separate  flocks  without  freedom,  and  others  have 
embraced  large '  flocks  in  freedom  without  separation  ; 
a  third  plan,  and  better  than  either  of  the  foregoing, 
being  to  Keep  small  flocks  separately,  yet  in  full  freedom. 
Small  flocks  at  liberty  on  distinct  farms  have  been  kept 
successfully  during  centuries,  because  the  owners  were 
unconsciously  imitating  the  natural  groups  of  the  wild 
jungle  fowls.  It  has  been  found  that  when  a  flock  of 
twenty,  in  free  range  on  the  farm,  gave  a  handsome 
profit,  and  the  number  has  been  increased  to  hundreds, 
all  in  one  flock,  with  the  idea  of  correspondingly  multi- 
plying the  gains,  an  unnatural  mob  has  been  formed, 
the  hereditary  instincts  violated,  and  laying  checked. 
The  confusion  has  not,  however,  lessened  the  amount  of 
feed  consumed,  and  pecuniary  results  have  been  the 
wrong  way.  When  it  is  attempted  to  divide  the  num- 
ber, and  place  them  in  separate  inclosures,  the  results 
are  still  far  from  satisfactory.  Small  flocks  kept  yarded 
may  be  multiplied  on  the  same  farm  to  any  desired 
extent ;  but  their  wants  can  be  all  supplied  only  through 
an  amount  of  labor  that  eats  up  the  profits,  unless  the 
mechanical  apparatus  we  shall  describe  in  the  following- 
pages  is  used,  the  invention  of  which  was  the  most 
important  step  ever  taken  in  poultry  culture  since  fowls 
were  first  domesticated.  In  this  land  of  high  wages, 
the  expense  of  attendance  determines,  to  a  great  extent, 


INTRODUCTORY.  5 

the  success  of  the  whole  project ;  hence  the  importance 
of  the  new  system  of  poultry  keeping  by  machinery. 

Keeping  fowls  as  a  business  should  be  regarded  as  a 
species  of  manufacturing,  grain  being  the  principal  raw 
material,  and  eggs  and  poultry  meat  the  finished  prod- 
ucts. The  value  of  the  products,  of  course,  exceeds 
that  of  the  raw  material ;  but  if  the  labor  cost  is  not 
carefully  watched,  it  may  eat  up  the  difference.  The 
menace  which  will  always  hang  over  the  keeper  of  poul- 
try on  a  large  scale,  is  the  competition  of  the  ordinary 
farmers,  villagers  and  suburban  residents,  who  enter  the 
market  incidentally  merely  to  dispose  of  surplus. 
Every  owner  of  a  small  flock  of  fowls  pours  his  little  rill 
of  poultry  products  into  the  great  market  stream  any- 
how, irrespective  of  profit,  and  this  makes  it  hard  for 
the  big  establishment.  It  is,  in  this  respect,  like  farm- 
ing, in  which  so  many  are  working  for  a  living  that  it 
is  next  to  impossible  for  anybody  else  to  farm  on  a  large 
scale  for  money.  Or  it  is  like  the  instance  of  the  girls 
behind  counters  in  the  large  stores,  who  usually  receive 
very  small  wages,  in  some  cases  not- enough  to  pay  for 
decent  board,  the  reason  being  that  there  are  so  many 
girls  wanting  places  who  have  nothing  to  do  and  who 
can  board  with  their  parents.  The  increase  of  the 
number  of  small  flocks  of  fowls,  consequent  upon  the 
diffusion  of  population  in  the  suburbs  by  means  of  the 
trolley  lines,  adds  to  the  difficulties  of  the  large  scale 
operator.  The  big  plant  cannot  stand  this  sort  of  com- 
petition unless  labor-saving  contrivances  are  used. 

This  is  a  "machine-ridden"  age.  Industrial  inven- 
tions have  revolutionized  society,  yet  the  transformation 
is  far  from  being  complete.  One  man  now  performs 
the  work  formerly  done  by  fifty  men,  in  making  textile 
or  metallic  goods,  or  of  thirty  men  in  producing,  milling 
and  transporting  breadstuffs  ;  but  the  mission  of  inven- 
tion, as  concerns  feeding  mankind,  is  far  from  perfect 


6  A:NT  EGG  FARM. 

fulfillment.  The  raising  of  animal  food  is  to  be  vastly 
improved.  Crops  have  been  cultivated  cheaper,  and  yet 
cheaper,  as  year  by  year  better  agricultural  implements 
and  machinery  have  been  devised,  but  in  tending  domes- 
tic animals,  whether  they  are  horses,  cattle,  sheep, 
swine  or  poultry,  but  little,  comparatively,  has  been 
accomplished  to  diminish  the  amount  of  labor.  K"ow  it 
takes  more  time  to  tend  the  farm  animals  of  the  United 
States  and  care  for  their  products — butter  to  be  churned, 
wool  to  be  sheared,  steers  to  be  fattened,  colts  to  be 
broken  and  trained  for  sale,  and  so  on — than  it  takes 
hours  to  raise  the  grain  and  forage  these  animals  eat, 
harvest  the  same  and  haul  it  to  mow  or  granary  ready 
for  consumption.  Here  is  a  great  field  for  labor-saving 
inventions,  a  field  white  for  the  harvest.  Machinery 
must  be  used  in  doing  chores.  Where  horses  or  cows 
are  kept  in  considerable  numbers  in  the  same  stable, 
mechanical  appliances  have  already  been  employed  by 
the  writer  to  supply  them  with  water,  hay  and  grain, 
lessening  the  labor  very  materially,  and  a  way  has  been 
found  to  clean  horse  stables  by  machinery.  Sheep  for 
fattening  are  now  fed  in  immense  numbers  with  grain 
by  specially  constructed  feed  hoppers  ;  milking  machines 
are  being  perfected,  and  swine  can  be  fed  and  tended, 
horses  curried  and  brushed,  and  young  horses  have  been 
broken  and  trained  by  the  writer  very  satisfactorily 
indeed,  no  matter  how  incorrigible  they  were  at  the 
start,  by  the  aid  of  machinery,  at  a  great  saving  of  time. 
The  first  outlay  for  almost  every  modern  machine  is 
much  greater  than  was  the  cost  of  the  old-fashioned 
hand  tools  it  superseded.  But  the  sum  total  of  the  cost 
involved  by  the  time  the  machine  is  worn  out  doing 
good,  is  less  under  the  machine  system  than  it  was  under 
the  hand  tool  system  sixty  years  ago.  Otherwise,  mod- 
ern machinery  would  not  be  labor  saving.  The  reaper 
and  binder  does  the  work  of  a  file  of  men  with  cradles, 


INTRODUCTORY.  7 

and  another  file  to  rake  and  bind.  The  price,  of  the 
ponderous  thing  is  greater  than  what  cradles  and  rakes 
would  cost.  The  farmer  pays  his  harvesting  bills  for 
eight  or  ten  years  in  advance  when  he  buys  a  reaping 
machine  that  will  last  that  length  of  time ;  that  is,  he 
hires  fewer  harvest  hands  for  eight  or  ten  years.  His 
grain  is  cut,  virtually,  before  it  is  sown.  It  is  cut  in  a 
machine  shop  one  thousand  miles  away ;  the  reapers 
wear  aprons  and  paper  caps,  and  work  cutting  the  farm- 
er's grain  in  a  factory  he  never  sees ;  their  wages  are 
higher  per  diem  than  what  cradlers  would  get,  but  his 
harvesting  costs  him  'less  the  new  way,  or  there  would 
be  no  labor  saving  about  it.  Just  so  in  the  new  system 
of  poultry  keeping  by  machinery;  there  is  the  mechan- 
ic's bill  at  the  outset.  The  machines  will  last  many 
years ;  those  which  are  indoors  will  last  during  the 
poultry  man's  lifetime.  If  the  wages  of  the  mechanics 
who  construct  them,  including  interest,  amount  to  less 
than  the  wages  of  employes  saved  or  superseded  during 
the  twenty  or  fifty  years  the  apparatus  lasts,  interest  on 
the  wrages  included,  then  there  is  labor  saving.  Xow, 
in  any  line  of  industry,  no  good  machinery,  well  adapted 
to  accomplish  the  work  for  which  it  was  designed,  ever 
yet  failed  to  save  labor,  and  the  poultry  machinery 
described  in  this  book  saves  a  greater  per  cent  of  labor 
than  does  the  average  farm  machinery. 


XJNIVERSIT 


CHAPTER    II. 

LOCATIOX. 

A  location  near  a  city  secures  certain  important  advan- 
tages. An  article  produced  daily  the  year  through,  and 
which  is  prized  for  being  fresh,  should  be  raised  as  close 
to  a  market  as  possible.  Thus  the  highest  prices  may 
be  obtained,  the  special  aim  being  to  supply  the  demand 
for  better  eggs  than  any  can  be  that  are  packed  and  sent 
great  distances.  Under  the  system  which  now  supplies, 
to  a  great  extent,  northern  cities,  there  is  the  time  spent 
in  collecting  eggs  from  various  sources,  to  which  must 
be  added  the  time  for  transportation,  and  the  time  they 
are  in  the  dealer's  hands  after  arrival.  Then  the  jarring 
is  more  or  less  injurious,  and  after  it,  eggs  will  keep  but 
a  little  while.  They  pass  through  so  many  hands  that 
no  one  in  particular  is  responsible  for  the  character  of 
the  article.  Under  a  better  plan,  eggs  are  delivered 
directly  to  consumers,  families  being  visited  regularly 
once  a  week.  The  egg  route  has  this  advantage  over  a 
milk  route,  that  it  need  not  be  traversed  so  often,  only 
a  sixth  of  the  whole  being  traveled  daily;  thus  the 
expense  of  delivery  is  not  great.  As  a  team  must  be 
sent  to  town  every  day  to  collect  stale  bread  from  the 
bakeries,  waste  bits  from  the  meat  markets,  etc.,  eggs 
can  be  sent,  when  only  a  day  or  two  laid,  with  no  extra 
trouble.  If  disposed  of  at  stores,  an  arrangement  should 
be  made  with  the  dealer  whereby  they  may  be  kept  in  a 
separate  lot,  and  sold  under  the  name  of  the  producer. 
Consumers  readily  appreciate  eggs,  butter  or  other  prod- 
uce that  comes  from  a  regular,  responsible  source. 

8 


LOCATION. 

When  a  lot  is  mixed  with  lots  from  other  farms,  its 
individuality  is  lost ;  if  good,  it  may  only  be  helping  to 
sell  the  poor  article  of  somebody  else,  and  the  producer 
does  not  reap  the  benefits  of  his  pains  in  increased  cus- 
tom. No  produce  can  be  supplied  to  city  dwellers  to 
better  mutual  advantage  to  seller  and  buyer,  than  new 
laid  eggs  delivered  direct,  the  dubious  ones  in  the  mar- 
ket causing  much  loss  and  vexation. 

Poultry  farms,  at  the  west,  have  the  benefits  of  cheap 
land  and  cheap  grain ;  and  at  the  south  the  season  is 
earlier,  and  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  especially,  cheap 
transportation  by  water  is  available.  But  the  value  of 
manure  in  some  places  at  the  north  is  so  great,  that  it  is 
more  economical  to  bring  grain  here  from  the  west  than 
eggs,  the  latter  being  so  troublesome  to  send  by  rail. 
Butchers'  waste,  procured  fresh,  being  almost  absolutely 
necessary,  is  an  important  consideration  in  favor  of 
proximity  to  a  city.  When  it  is  seen  that  high  prices 
for  eggs  depend  on  the  latter  being  produced  near  by 
and  delivered  fresh,  and  that  the  labor  is  no  greater  to 
raise  them  close  by  the  market  than  at  a  distance  at 
lower  prices,  with  a  deduction  for  transportation  and 
breakage,  it  will  be  readily  seen  that  there  are  certain 
special  advantages  in  a  location  near  a  big  northern  city. 

The  site  should  not  be  far  from  a  railroad  freight 
depot  or  wharf.  The  amount  of  western  grain  needed 
is  large.  Hauling  this  many  miles  by  team  is  too  costly. 
Enriching  wornout  northern  farms  by  feeding  out  grain 
from  the  prairies,  is  an  indirect  way  of  importing  their 
rich  mold.  Therefore,  we  take  care  that  this  importa- 
tion is  judiciously  contrived.  A  mill  near  by,  for  grind- 
ing, is  desirable.  A  tract  of  arable  land  may  be  found 
(though  rarely),  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  either  woods, 
swamps  or  rocky  pastures,  so  that  there  need  be  no  dan- 
ger that  the  fowls  will  stray  into  tilled  fields  of  adjoin- 
ing proprietors.  In  case  such  a  farm  could  be  procured, 


10  AN   EGG   FARM. 

the  great  expense  of  a  fowl-proof  fence  all  around  it 
would  be  saved.  If  the  tract  is  unfortunately  bounded 
by  cultivated  lands,  then  it  must  be  so  large  and  of  such 
cheap  quality,  that  a  border  twenty  or  thirty  rods  wide 
may  be  afforded,  to  be  kept  in  permanent  pasture.  The 
land  should  be  upon  a  slope,  for  there  must  be  a  quick 
surface  drainage  after  heavy  rains ;  but  the  pitch  should 
not  be  so  steep  as  to  prevent  easy  wagoning.  A  southern 
or  southeastern  inclination  gives  a  proper  sunny  exposure; 
and  if  there  is  a  belt  of  woods  on  the  north  to  break. the 
winds,  so  much  the  better.  If  near  swamps,  sea 
marshes  or  damp  river  valleys,  the  site  should  be  so  ele- 
vated as  to  be  out  of  the  reach  of  the  worst  raw,  chilling 
fogs.  We  have  enumerated  all  the  above  qualifications 
as  necessary  to  a  site  for  an  egg  farm,  and  it  may  be 
added  that  most  of  these  apply  whether  the  plant  is  in 
the  northern  or  the  southern  states.  Their  combination 
with  certain  essentials  of  soil,  which  we  shall  state  in 
another  place,  makes  the  matter  of  selection  one  of  con- 
siderable difficulty.  Many  more  important  points  are  to 
be  attended  to  than  in  choosing  a  place  for  ordinary 
farming  or  gardening. 

A   SOUTHERN   LOCATION. 

While  proximity  to  a  northern  city  has  become  more 
important  year  by  year,  in  one  sense,  because  a  greater 
proportion  of  the  whole  population  of  our  country,  and 
of  all  other  countries  as  well,  is,  as  time  rolls  on,  found 
in  the  large  towns  ;  yet  there  is,  however,  another  aspect 
to  the  case ;  for  transportation  has  received  such  an 
immense  development  that  it  is  possible  to  utilize 
extremely  favorable  distant  sites,  formerly  unavailable, 
for  poultry  raising.  By  going  a  tier  or  two  of  states 
further  south  from  our  northern  farms,  poultry  plants 
may  be  established  under  more  favorable  auspices,  in 
many  respects,  for  supplying  the  large  northern  cities, 


LOCATION.  11 

than  can  be  afforded  by  sites  near  at  hand.  Just  as 
early  fruits  and  vegetables  have,  within  a  few  years, 
comparatively,  been  raised  in  prodigious  quantities  at 
the  south  for  shipment  to  New  York,  Boston,  Chicago 
and  other  northern  markets,  under  a  regular  organized 
system  of  gigantic  proportions,  we  may  look,  in  a  short 
time,  for  something  on  a  correspondingly  large  scale  in 
the  movements  of  poultry  products.  By  seeking  a 
milder  climate,  the  construction  of  expensive  winter 
shelters  and  the  cost  of  fuel  for  warming  them  and 
carrying  on  artificial  hatching  and  rearing,  may  be 
avoided. 

The  climate  of  the  Gulf  states,  and  of  all  the  extreme 
south,  will  never  be  as  favorable  for  poultry  as  the 
region  of  the  latitude  of  North  Carolina  or  southern 
Kansas.  The  high  trans-Missouri  plains,  owing  to  the 
prevailing  dryness  and  great  purity  of  the  air,  afford  the 
best  sites  for  poultry  farms  in  the  whole  country,  the 
southern  portion  of  this  great  area  being  the  best.  In 
all  the  region  from  the  Dakotas  to  northern  Texas, 
fowls  of  all  kinds  thrive  amazingly.  It  is  easier  to  raise 
a  forty-five  pound  turkey  in  Nebraska  than  a  thirty-five 
pound  turkey  in  New  England,  from  the  same  strain. 
Southern  Kansas  and  vicinity,  where  winters  are  less 
severe  than  further  north,  lessening  expense,  as  popula- 
tion increases  in  the  cities  of  the  northeast  and  of  the 
extreme  south,  where  the  climate  is  unfavorable  for 
poultry,  and  as  railroad  lines  are  multiplied,  running 
north  and  south  between  British  America  and  the  Texas 
Gulf  coast,  will  become  the  best  locality  in  the  United 
States  and  in  the  world  for  the  raising  of  poultry  prod- 
ucts in  prodigious  quantities.  Grain  is  cheaper  in  this 
region  than  in  any  other,  and  is  likely  to  remain  so  for 
a  long  time. 

Unless  the  proportion  of  freight  rates  should  be  mate- 
rially altered,  which  is  unlikely,  it  will  continue  to  cost 


12  AN    EGG    FARM. 

less  to  transport  eggs  and  fowls  from  this  region  of  cheap 
corn  to  points  where  both  corn  and  poultry  products  are 
comparatively  dear,  than  to  ship  to  the  latter  vicinity 
the  grain  from  which  these  products  are  formed.  Sev- 
enty years  ago  nearly  every  pound  of  provisions  in  the 
whole  land  was  consumed  within  twenty  miles  of  where 
it  was  raised ;  but  now,  since  "many  run  to  and  fro,  and 
knowledge  is  increased,"  there  is  a  growing  tendency 
toward  shipments  to  great  distances.  It  is  common 
for  the  market  to  contain  food  supplies,  the  principal 
articles  of  which  are  from  various  localities  a  thousand 
or  two  thousand  miles  apart,  while  some  are  from  even 
the  most  distant  parts  of  the  globe.  A  natural  law  of 
competition,  as  persistent  as  the  attraction  of  gravitation, 
compels  the  production  of  commodities  where  the  facili- 
ties are  the  best,  unless  the  freight  to  the  point  of  con- 
sumption is  great  enough  to  offset  these  facilities.  But 
freight  rates  grow  less  and  less  as  the  machinery  of 
transportation,  like  all  other  machinery,  is  constantly 
improved. 

In  treating  of  a  location  near  a  northern  city,  the 
advantages  of  delivering  fresh  eggs  at  an  extra  price 
direct  to  the  consumers,  without  the  intervention  of  a 
middleman,  were  set  forth.  A  portion  of  the  whole 
number  of  large  scale  poultry  men  will  continue  to  avail 
themselves  of  these  advantages,  yet  the  tendency  will 
be,  in  the  future,  for  the  production  of  a  great  and 
increasing  proportion  of  eggs  and  poultry  meat  at  points 
hundreds  of  miles  distant  from  the  consumers.  The 
science  of  distribution — if  it  may  be  so  called — has  been 
constantly  improving,  the  machinery  of  the  produce 
commission  business  having  been  brought  to  a  great 
pitch  of  perfection.  Even  the  multiplication  of  depart- 
ment stores,  which  marks  an  important  era  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  commodities,  has  a  bearing  on  our  subject. 
As  the  retail  food  market  division  of  one  of  these  great 


LOCATION.  13 

establishments  is  handy,  the  housewife  can  personally 
inspect  her  purchases,  which  she  would  probably  not  do 
if  it  was  not  made  so  very  convenient  for  her  in  connec- 
tion with  her  shopping  in  other  lines,  while  facilities  of 
electric  cars  and  horseless  omnibuses  are  constantly 
improving,  so  that  communication  is  easy  and  quick 
between  the  department  store  and  the  home  of  the  cus- 
tomer. The  tendency  of  all  inventions  is  to  mass  pro- 
duction at  a  few  points  remote  from  consumption,  hence 
many  poultry  operators  will,  in  the  future,  be  diverted 
from  a  suburban  region  of  high  priced  lands  to  a  locality 
of  cheaper  acres  and  a  more  favorable  climate. 

Transportation  is  king  and  governs  every  department 
of  industry.  In  the  case  we  are  considering,  not  only 
has  improved  transportation  rendered  distant  sites  feasi- 
ble, but  it  has,  through  the  means  of  trolley  lines, 
checked,  to  some  extent,  the  great  increase  of  city 
homes,  and  by  stimulating  out-of-town  residence,  has 
added  to  the  numbers  of  suburban  people  who  raise  eggs 
for  their  own  families,  with  a  surplus  to  take  to  the  city. 
In  other  words,  they  leave  the  ranks  of  buyers  of  poultry 
products  and  become  producers  themselves,  thus  adding 
to  the  supply  of  near  by  raised  strictly  fresh  eggs. 

The  production  of  eggs  at  a  point  remote  from  the 
large  city  market  has  also  been  made  more  feasible  than 
formerly  by  the  recent  improvements  in  cold  storage. 
It  is  true  that  nothing  will  ever  quite  equal  a  newly  laid 
egg,  but  eggs  absolutely  newly  laid  when  put  into  cold 
storage,  will,  the  following  winter,  turn  out  to  be  very 
good  indeed,  even  if  not  "fresh  laid/'  and  will  meet  a 
great  demand  at  high  prices.  Eggs  collected  from  ordi- 
nary farms  by  itinerant  hucksters,  or  accumulated  indis- 
criminately at  grocery  stores  and  then  taken  to  cold 
storage,  will  always  be  more  or  less  in  bad  repute. 
Hence  the  advantage  possessed  by  the  proprietor  of  a 
poultry  farm  on  a  large  scale,  where  every  nest  is  visited 


14  AN   EGG   FARM. 

daily,  on  system,  and  freshness  of  product  guaranteed 
absolutely  before  put  in  cold  storage. 

The  cold  storage  feature  will,  in  the  future,  dominate 
in  fixing  the  areas  for  the  production  of  a  large  and 
increasing  proportion  of  the  enormous  quantities  of 
poultry  products  which  our  hundreds  of  millions  of  peo- 
ple yet  to  be  will  consume.  The  great  packing  houses 
for  beef  and  pork  at  the  principal  cities  of  the  middle 
west  have  grown  with  wonderful  rapidity  to  a  colossal 
size,  pointing  out  the  belt  of  country  where  animal  food 
can  be  produced  at  the  greatest  advantage.  Dressed 
poultry  is  already  kept  and  transported  from  the  trans- 
Mississippi  region  on  an  immense  scale,  by  the  same 
means  as  beef  and  pork,  in  the  carcass,  besides  being 
canned,  the  principal  operators  being  at  Kansas  City ; 
but  all  that  has  been  done,  thus  far,  in  this  line  is  but 
as  a  drop  in  the  bucket.  The  big  eastern  and  northern 
cities  will  be  supplied  more  and  more  in  the  future  with 
poultry  products  from  the  southwest ;  particularly  from 
southern  Kansas,  northern  Texas,  southern  Missouri, 
Oklahoma,  Indian  Territory  and  Arkansas,  although 
southeastern  Nebraska,  southwestern  Iowa,  and  all  of 
the  area  tributary  to  Kansas  City  will  contribute  to  the 
immense  volume  of  eggs  and. poultry  which  that  great 
southwestern  paradise  of  fowls  will  produce. 

THE   KIND   OF  SOIL. 

The  soil  should  be  adapted  to  cultivation.  Those 
who  advocate  a  waste  or  sterile  tract  make  a  great  mis- 
take. Every  rood  should  be  capable  of  cultivation,  and 
rocky  or  bushy  land  avoided.  Shade  may  be  artificially 
provided  at  a  small  cost  in  a  manner  to  be  hereafter 
described.  It  is  necessary  to  raise  crops,  in  order  to  get 
the  full  advantage  of  the  manure.  It  exceeds  in  value 
that  made  by  any  other  domestic  animal,  because  it  is 
from  rich  food  more  thoroughly  digested  than  is  the 


LOCATION.  15 

case  with  quadrupeds.  The  scrapings  from  the  roosts 
might  be  carried  to  another  farm,  it  is  true,  but  the 
nearer  they  are  applied,  the  less  labor ;  and  the  drop- 
pings where  the  fowls  range,  and  at  every  coop  of  small 
chickens,  etc.,  are  too  valuable  to  be  lost,  and  cannot  be 
gathered  up  save  by  the  roots  of  plants  on  the  spot.  In 
order  to  distract  attention  from  the  main  business  as 
little  as  possible,  crops  of  the  simplest  management 
should  be  mostly  grown,  and  only  those  that  can  be  con- 
sumed by  the  establishment — grass,  clover,  alfalfa,  cab- 
bages, lettuce,  onions,  potatoes,  beets  and  other  roots, 
large  quantities  of  oat  or  rye  straw,  and  the  balance, 
grains  of  various  sorts,  corn  especially  being  always  in 
order.  The  principle  of  division  of  labor,  carried  out  to 
full  extent,  would  forbid  our  raising  crops  at  all,  were 
we  able  to  gather  all  the  manure  and  sell  it  for  what  it 
is  really  worth.  But,  as  we  have  seen,  much  will  be 
wasted  unless  there  is  tillage,  and  there  is  no  price  estab- 
lished for  such  manure ;  and  if  there  were  it  is,  under 
our  system,  all  immediately  mixed  with  earth,  making 
it  unfit  for  sale. 

The  quality  of  the  soil  may  be  poor,  or  worn-out  at 
the  start,  thus  securing  cheapness ;  but  it  should  be  of 
a  sort  to  which  it  would  pay  to  apply  valuable  manure. 
For  the  sake  of  the  health  of  the  birds,  choose  a  warm, 
dry  soil.  Land  which  dries  quickly  after  rains  is  the 
kind ;  and  another  test  is,  whether  it  is  ready  for  the 
plow  early  in  spring.  If  it  will  produce  peas  or  water- 
melons earlier  than  common,  we  are  not  far  wrong.  It 
should  not  be  clayey  or  gravelly,  but  a  sandy  loam. 
Gravel  for  a  subsoil,  low  enough  down  never  to  be 
reached  by  the  plow,  would  be  excellent,  making  a  nat- 
ural underdrainage ;  but  gravel  at  the  surface  troubles 
the  fowls  in  their  rolling  and  dusting.  A  supply  of 
hard  gravel  for  the  use  of  the  birds  should  be  screened 
to  a  proper  size  at  some  other  place,  and  hauled  to  the 


16  AN   EGG   FARM. 

spot,  and  put  in  boxes  for  the  use  of  the  birds.  The 
soil  should  answer  for  dry  earth  for  the  roosts  and  for 
dust  baths,  the  loam  being  of  a  sort  easily  reduced  to  an 
impalpable  powder.  This  is  important,  because  we 
depend  upon  pulverized  dry  earth  all  through  the  busi- 
ness, to  secure  the  cleanliness  and  health  of  the  birds 
with  the  least  possible  labor.  A  great  deal  is  said  in 
poultry  books  and  papers  about  the  importance  of  clean- 
ing the  roosts  frequently.  We  do  not  clean  ours  oftener 
than  once  in  three  or  four  months.  The  labor  of  going 
the  rounds  daily  in  a  large  establishment,  thoroughly 
scraping  floors,  and  removing  manure,  would  be  enor- 
mous. We  set  all  our  fowl  houses  on  a  ridge  of  earth, 
thrown  up  by  plowing  several  times  toward  the  center, 
and  surround  with  a  shallow  ditch  for  surface  drainage 
after  heavy  rains.  Thus  we  secure  dryness,  wet  being 
the  foe  that  must  be  kept  from  the  fowls  at  every  stage. 
Then  in  winter  a  bed  of  dry  earth,  six  inches  deep,  is  put 
inside  the  houses  instead  of  a  floor,  and  a  couple  of 
inches  added  monthly  if  needed.  The  birds  may  be 
depended  upon  to  cover  their  own  droppings,  not  only 
daily,  but  hourly,  when  not  at  roost,  a  thick  cloud  of 
dust  being  raised  every  little  while.  The  houses  will 
always  be  freer  from  taint  than  if  floors  were  used  with- 
out dry  earth,  and  scrubbed  with  soap  and  sand  three 
times  a  day. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   COLONY   PLAN. 

A  system  of  detached,  widely  separated  poultry  houses, 
movable  or  immovable,  called  the  colony  plan,  is  suc- 
cessful, because  it  secures  natural  conditions,  especially 
exercise,  cleanliness  and  pure  air.  Needing  a  large  area 
of  ground  and  making  the  attendant  travel  long  dis- 
tances, it  is  appropriately  designated  the  extensive  sys- 
tem, as  contrasted  with  the  intensive  system,  which 
concentrates  the  birds  and  buildings  and  employs  the 
labor  on  a  small  space. 

One  of  the  best  methods  on  the  extensive  principle 
and  with  movable  houses,  we  will  first  describe,  as  it 
has  been  carried  out  during  the  last  twenty  years  in 
nearly  or  quite  every  state  in  the  Union,  with  various 
modifications  to  suit  individual  requirements  or  notions. 
The  intensive  plan  has  its  own  merits,  which  will  be 
considered  in  the  proper  place. 

Upon  the  colony  poultry  farm  there  are  no  yards, 
excepting  for  some  special  purposes,  but  we  imitate  a 
country  town,  where  is  stationed  at  every  farmyard  a 
flock  at  free  range.  This  method  we  know  has  suc- 
ceeded for  hundreds  of  years,  since  men  became  partly 
civilized  ;  so  it  is  no  new  experiment,  and  it  is  based  on 
a  state  of  things  still  older,  extending  beyond  the  period 
of  domestication.  Across  a  tract  of  62%  acres,  100  rods 
square,  run  parallel  wagon  roads,  10  rods  apart,  with 
fowl  houses  located  quincunx  style  every  10  rods.  In 
this  way  each  house  is  surrounded  by  six  others,  and 
is  10  rods  to  11  and  a  fraction,  from  each.  Now,  when 
2  17 


18  Atf    EGG    FA  KM. 

a  flock  is  attached  to  each  farmyard  in  a  village,  and 
runs  at  liberty,  the  premises  may  be  as  near  each  other 
as  8  or  6  rods  even,  without  danger  of  the  birds 
straying,  ordinarily,  when  once  fairly  domiciled.  This 
is  because  the  neighbors'  premises  have  a  different  look, 
and  the  buildings,  garden,  orchard,  shrubbery,  and 
fences  serve  as  landmarks  to  enable  them  to  find  their 
way  back.  To  make  each  flock  upon  our  tract  know  its 
home,  we  have  three  styles  of  buildings,  so  unlike  in 
color  and  other  respects  as  to  be  distinguished  by  their 
occupants,  and  these  alternate  in  such  a  way  as  to  pre- 
•  0  *  0  O 


FIG.  1.     DIAGRAM  OF  EGG  FARM. 

vent  mistakes.  Here  the  ancient  instincts  of  the  birds 
are  our  reliance,  their  powers  of  discrimination  in  regard 
to  locality  being  very  strong.  It  must  be  kept  in  mind 
that  any  faculty  which  was  of  use  when  the  race  was 
wild,  may  be  definitely  counted  on,  unless  it  has  since 
been  persistently  bred  out.  The  buildings  are  white, 
black,  and  uncolored,  in  succession,  so  that  the  six 
immediately  adjoining  any  one  are  none  of  them  like 
itself.  The  white  and  black  coloring  are  of  the  cheapest 
sort — lime  wash  and  coal  tar. 


THE    COLONY    PLAN.  19' 

In  the  diagram,  Fig.  1,  the  quincunx  order  is  shown, 
and  the  position  of  the  wagon  path  is  indicated  by  the 
dotted  lines.  The  alternation  of  the  colors  of  buildings 
will  be  understood  from  the  white,  black,  and  shaded 
dots,  but  the  diagram  represents  only  a  small  portion,  a 
corner  merely,  of  the  main  area  of  the  farm  occupied  by 
the  colony  buildings,  and  the  reader  should  imagine  the 
roads  extended  a  great  distance  at  the  right  in  the  cut. 

While  pursuing  the  experiments  which  led  to  this  sys- 
tem, we  early  perceived  that  while  a  flock  thus  situated 
would  stay  near  home  so  long  as  no  person  approached, 
when  feeding  them  we  were  followed  by  birds  from 
neighboring  flocks  and  there  was  confusion.  Besides, 
so  accustomed  do  fowls  become  to  associating  the  sight 
of  their  keeper  with  a  boon,  that  they  will  follow  him 
from  one  station  to  another,  when  on  his  rounds  col- 
lecting eggs,  or  attending  to  other  matters.  True,  their 
ability  to  find  their  way  back  is  wonderful,  but  fighting 
follows  the  meeting  of  birds  that  are  strangers,  and  thus 
the  quiet  and  order  so  essential  to  laying  are  impaired, 
and  also  frequent  association  of  this  kind  will,  after 
a  while,  break  down  all  distinction  between  neighboring 
flocks.  Such  a  trouble  would  be  fatal  to  the  whole  plan. 
The  solution  of  this  difficulty  is  original  with  our  sys- 
tem, and  the  key  to  its  success.  The  feeding  business 
is  the  cause  of  the  trouble,  and  the  only  reason  why 
fowls  follow  their  keeper.  The  remedy  is  to  bring  about 
the  feeding  indirectly.  From  earliest  chickenhood  the 
birds,  or  the  greater  part  of  them,  are  brought  up  so  as 
to  never  perceive  that  the  keeper  has  anything  to  do 
with  their  feed.  The  small  coops  for  young  chickens, 
on  a  separate  part  of  the  farm,  have  boxes  where  the 
feed  is  placed,  and  a  simple  contrivance  attached,  that 
does  not  admit  the  chickens  until  some  time  afterward. 
This  device  will  be  explained  when  describing  coops  and 
other  fixings  for  young  birds.  Adult  fowls  are  given 


20  AK    EGG    FARM. 

soft  feed  early  in  the  morning  in  a  feed  box  in  their 
house,  so  constructed  that  the  keeper  is  not  seen  by  them 
at  all.  All  the  hard  grain  for  the  day's  allowance  is 
deposited  in  or  under  a  pile  of  straw  outside,  before  they 
are  let  out  of  the  building,  and  they  scratch  for  it  at 
intervals  through  the  day.  This  employment  is  yery 
salutary  to  their  health  and  spirits,  and  assists  in  keep- 
ing the  flock  together.  The  bright  eye  and  keen  faculty 
for  prying  and  searching  are  employed,  instead  of  the 
birds  moping  or  standing  listless.  They  feel  as  if  every- 
thing was  right  and  natural,  and  their  contentment 
influences  laying  to  a  surprising  degree. 

If  straw  is  plenty  and  cheap,  as  it  is  in  some  parts  of 
the  country,  scatter  it  liberally  and  sow  grain  upon  it  by 
any  good  broadcast  seeding  machine  worked  by  a  team, 
and  follow  with  a  hay  tedder,  alternating  with  a  side 
delivery  horserake  whenever  the  straw  becomes  scattered 
too  much.  Or  the  driver  of  the  hay  tedder  can  drop  a 
slender  rill  of  grain  with  one  hand,  while  managing  his 
team  with  the  other.  If  straw  is  too  expensive,  as  it  is 
apt  to  be  if  within  fair  shipping  distance  of  a  city,  a 
plow  can  be  used,  every  month  or  so,  to  loosen  the  soil, 
preferably,  as  we  have  seen,  a  loose,  sandy  loam,  and  a 
harrow  employed  to  cover  the  grain.  This  harrow 
should  have  very  short  and  slender  teeth,  a  homemade 
affair  constructed  of  one-inch  or  half-inch  boards  or 
two-inch  planks,  through  which  round  nails  or  spikes 
are  driven,  answering  better  than  the  harrows  in  the 
market,  as  it  will  not  do  to  cover  the  grain  too  deeply. 
The  best  thing  of  all  is  a  wire  drag,  made  by  fastening 
numerous  barbed  wires  to  round  poles  of  the  size  of  a 
man's  arm,  or  to  scantling,  or  waste  strips  of  board  of 
various  dimensions,  if  more  convenient,  by  means  of 
ordinary  fence  staples.  This  drag  is  cheap,  simple,  and 
effective ;  it  will  accommodate  itself  to  uneven  ground, 
and  as  it  is  of  light  draft,  you  can  make  it  very  broad 


THE    COLONY    PLAN.  4         21 

and  take  a  wide  sweep.  Lay  the  poles  or  scantling  on 
the  ground  about  two  feet  apart  and  parallel.  Staple 
the  wires  on,  three  inches  apart,  at  right  angles  with 
the  poles.  If  the  ground  to  be  harrowed  is  uneven,  you 
should  saw  about  two  poles  out  of  three  into  three-foot 
pieces,  so  that  in  operation  it  will  undulate  to  fit  the 
swells  and  hollows.  Of  course,  there  must  be  a  sizable, 
long  stick  at  front  to  which  the  team  may  be  attached. 
Get  plenty  of  help  to  turn  the  ugly  thing  over  work- 
wise,  without  tangling,  when  it  is  done,  so  that  the 
poles  will  be  on  top  and  the  wires  on  the  ground.  This 
wire  harrow  is  also  an  excellent  thing  for  every  farmer 
who  sows  broadcast  turnips,  millet,  clover,  alfalfa,  tim- 
othy, or  any  very  small  seed,  and  preparatory  to  nice 
gardening,  it  will  make  the  soil  fine  as  snuff,  saving 
labor  with  the  hand  rake. 

By  broadcasting  the  seed  before  the  fowls  are  let  out 
in  the  morning,  the  sight  of  the  keeper  is  associated 
with  no  gift  or  boon,  whatever,  and  scrupulous  care  is 
taken  during  the  fifteen  or  eighteen  months  that  limit 
the  lives  of  most  of  the  main  laying  stock,  never  to 
throw  them,  directly,  a  morsel  of  food.  This  precau- 
tion of  indirect  feeding  is  not,  however,  carried  out 
with  the  small  classes  of  sitters  and  fowls  with  pedigree 
records,  as  will  be  explained  hereafter.  All  motions 
near  the  indirectly  fed  fowls  should  be  slow  and  gentle ; 
they  should  never  be  frightened,  and  should  regard  their 
keeper  with  neither  fear  nor  aversion,  but  with  total 
indifference.  The  two  points,  of  differently  appearing 
premises  at  different  stations,  and  indirect  feeding,  both 
being  attended  to,  we  are  enabled  to  keep  separate  flocks 
in  freedom  upon  one  farm  without  yards.  The  method 
of  overcoming,  by  use  of  a  team,  the  loss  of  time  in 
attendance  caused  by  the  scattering  of  the  buildings, 
will  be  described  in  its  proper  place,  as  well  as  the  ways 
of  securing  throughout  the  greatest  economy  in  labor 
and  lumber. 


22  AX    EGG    FARM. 

As  it  is  impossible  to  raise  any  crop  on  vines,  stalks, 
or  trees  above  ground  or  below  it,  that  hens  will  not 
damage,  crops  are  put  on  one-half  of  the  ground  each 
year,  and  the  fowls  on  the  other  half.  Movable  fowl 
houses  are  used  to  great  advantage.  By  building  small, 
light,  and  low,  with  strong  sills  made  on  purpose  foi- 
l-miners, the  houses  may  be  moved  every  spring  by  an 
ordinary  team,  to  the  section  tilled  the  previous  sum- 
mer. The  distance  traveled  in  transferring  one  hun- 
dred fowl  houses,  from  one  sixty-acre  lot  to  another,  is 
one-third  of  a  mile  for  each  building,  and  back  with  no 
load.  The  amount  of  labor  is  much  less  than  would  be 
involved  in  hauling  the  manure,  mixed  with  dry  earth, 
from  the  buildings.  The  moving  is  accomplished  sys- 
tematically ;  the  fowls  belonging  to  a  building  being  all 
moved  in  one  flock  in  a  large  box  made  on  purpose, 
Fig.  12,  in  which  they  are  quietly  entrapped  when 
attempting  to  leave  their  house  in  the  morning,  by  plac- 
ing it  adjoining,  after  which  the  box  is  darkened  and 
drawn  upon  runners,  on  which  it  stands,  to  the  new 
station.  On  arriving,  they  are  immediately  allowed  to 
escape  into  a  spare  house,  shaped  and  colored  like  the 
one  they  left,  placed  beforehand,  when  they  are  ready 
to  commence  their  day  as  usual,  the  whole  operation  of 
removal  occupying  only  a  few  minutes.  Besides  this 
yearly  moving,  each  building  is  moved  every  few  days 
during  spring,  summer,  and  fall,  its  length  only.  Thus 
a  fresh  spot  is  secured,  and  to  prevent  all  taint  and 
uncleanliness,  as  well  as  to  keep  the  manure  safe  for 
next  year's  crops,  an  implement  like  a  harrow,  with 
teeth  like  those  of  a  horse  hoe  or  a  cultivator,  is  drawn 
over  the  spot  where  it  stood.  "  The  buildings  are  all 
moved  in  regular  order,  in  the  same  direction,  so  as  to 
keep  the  same  distances  apart ;  then  back  again  over 
another  strip  of  ground,  so  as  to  fertilize  the  whole  lot 
in  the  course  of  the  season.  The  frequent  turning  of 


THE    COLOXY    PLAN.  23 

the  soil  not  only  keeps  it  sweet,  but  provides  what  fowls 
are  so  fond  of — a  place  to  scratch  for  insects,  and  roll 
and  dust  themselves  in  dry  weather.  The  crop  of  weeds 
that  will  constantly  appear  in  summer  must  be  as  con- 
stantly turned  under;  and  whatever  advantage  there 
may  be  in  green  crops  for  manure  will  be  secured ;  thus 
the  enriching  and  pulverizing  of  the  ground  will  fit  it 
for  large  crops.  It  need  not  lie  altogether  fallow,  either, 
for  a  few  small  spots  may  be  sown  thickly  with  lettuce, 
cabbages,  or  other  plants  that  fowls  will  eat,  pro- 
tected until  partly  grown  by  movable  fences  or  hurdles 
of  wire  netting,  after  which  they  may  be  allowed  to  help 
themselves.  Oats  may  be  sown  in  strips  also ;  and 
whether  the  fowls  scratch  up  and  eat  the  seed,  or  forage 
upon  the  tender  sprouts  or  the  ripened  grain,  no  mat- 
ter. It  is  only  necessary  to  compare  the  amount  of  labor 
spent  in  spading  the  ground  in  yards,  to  keep  it  fresh, 
with  this  way  of  using  team  and  plow,  to  see  the  supe- 
riority of  the  latter  method. 

In  poultry  raising  on  a  large  scale,  it  is,  ordinarily, 
next  to  impossible  for  the  fowls  to  procure  insect  sup- 
plies to  any  important  amount,  in  proportion  to  the 
numbers  of  the  birds.  Yet  while  in  the  colonization 
and  no-fence  plan,  with  the  houses  10  to  11  rods  apart 
and  no  crops,  the  insects  procurable  are  so  few  as  to  be 
unimportant,  the  following  modification  of  this  method, 
where  grasshoppers  are  very  plenty,  as  they  are  in  July 
and  August  in  some  parts  of  the  United  States,  has 
been  found  to  work  well,  to  wit :  Locate  the  buildings 
for  laying  stock  20  rods  apart,  instead  of  10  rods,  and 
in  place  of  unlimited  range,  give  each  flock  a  long,  low, 
covered  run,  the  sides  and  top  of  which  consist  of  wire 
netting,  stretched  over  frames.  This  yard,  or  long  run- 
way, may  be  2  or  3  ft.  wide,  3  ft.  high,  and  6  or  8 
rods  long.  It  is  important  that  it  be  built  in  movable 
sections,  set  end  to  end,  each  section  being  about  10  or 


24  AN    EGG    FA  KM. 

12  ft.  long,  and  covered  at  top  and  sides,  but  open,  of 
course,  at  the  ends.  The  houses  and  runways  being 
located  on  a  fertile  hayfield,  an  abundance  of  insects 
will  breed  in  the  tall  grass  or  clover  or  alfalfa,  and  will 
be  captured  in  the  runway. 

When  the  fowls  have  access  to  all  parts  of  a  hayfield 
or  pasture,  they  devour  the  larvae  of  the  insects,  or  the 
young  when  so  small  that  they  do  not  amount  to  much 
as  food.  But  under  the  runway  plan,  large  numbers 
remain  undisturbed  till,  full  grown  and  fattened,  they 
enter  the  trap.  In  some  cases,  tons  of  grasshoppers 
appear  in  hayfields  where  fowls  cannot  be  allowed  to 
run,  because,  in  addition  to  other  objections,  the  grass 


FIG.  2.     COOP  FOR  GKOWIXG  CHICKS. 

would  be  badly  trampled  by  them  and  nests  would  be 
hidden.  An  occasional  runway,  as  above  described, 
penetrating  the  ranks  of  the  grass  like  a  tunnel,  will 
receive,  from  time  to  time,  traveling  hoppers  and  jump- 
ers in  sufficient  numbers  to  keep  the  birds  on  the  alert, 
thus  affording  them  exercise  and  lessening  the  feed  bills 
very  materially.  The  birds  can  pick  what  green  food 
they  need  through  the  meshes.  As  remarked,  the  har- 
vest of  insects  is  specially  valuable  for  only  about  two 
months  in  the  year,  and,  as  the  houses  are  on  runners, 
and  the  runways  are  constructed  in  sections,  the  whole 
outfit  may  be  moved  to  any  location  desired,  to  stand  dur- 


THE    COLOXY    PLAN.  25 

ing  the  remaining  ten  months.  The  operation  of  the 
mower  and  other  haying  machinery  will  not  be  seriously 
interfered  with  in  this  plan,  which  is  peculiarly  adapted 
to  the  extensive  alfalfa  fields  of  the  Great  Plains  region. 
If  a  location  is  preferred  in  a  field  of  wheat,  rye,  barley, 
oats  or  millet,  the  birds  may  be  turned  loose  after  har- 
vest and  before  the  weeds  have  grown  tall  enough  to 
encourage  the  fowls  to  steal  their  nests,  while  the  scat- 
tered kernels  gleaned  in  the  stubble  will  be  quite  an 
item.  Alfalfa,  however,  is  destined  to  become  one  of 
the  most  important  crops,  which  will  occupy  millions  of 
acres  of  the  great  trans-Missouri  region  and  feed  count- 
less numbers  of  horses,  cattle,  sheep  and  swine,  and  as 
grasshoppers  breed  in  this  crop  in  myriads,  the  tunnel 
plan  is  particularly  suited  to  the  alfalfa  belt. 

The  sixty  acres  of  grain,  which,  as  previously  stated,  are 
raised  every  year  on  our  colony  poultry  farm,  may  have 
some  of  these  poultry-runway  movable-grasshopper  traps 
located  thereon.  K  partly  grown  fowls,  not  yet  of  a 
laying  age,  or  chicks  just  separated  from  their  mother, 
are  placed  in  such  runways,  among  growing  crops,  a 
very  good  house  to  be  attached  to  the  runways  is  shown 
in  Fig.  2.  It  may  be  built  four  feet  high  from  floor  to 
peak  of  roof  and  four  by  twelve  feet  on  the  floor.  Mov- 
able perches  rest  in  slots  cut  in  the  tops  of  blocks  eight 
inches  high.  The  ends  of  the  building  and  the  two 
doors  are  alike,  the  latter  being  fastened  down  nights  by 
a  padlock.  Several  barbed  fence  wires  are  stretched  on 
both  sides  of  the  building,  to  admit  air  and  keep  out 
thieves.  Moving  is  done  by  attaching  a  team  to  a  chain 
fastened  to  one  of  the  end  crosspieces  on  which  the 
floor  rests. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SUPPLYING   THEIR    NEEDS. 

The  distance  once  around  to  each  station  amounts  to 
several  miles,  and  the  rounds  must  be  made  a  number 
of  times  every  day.  The  distance  would  be  too  great  for 
the  attendant  to  walk  over,  even  if  empty  handed,  and 
transporting  grain  and  water  without  a  team  would  be 
out  of  the  question.  A  supply  of  water  through  pipes, 
connecting  with  each  station,  would  be  too  costly,  espe- 
cially as  .they  would  be  idle  when  the  land  was  culti- 
vated. A  running  stream  conducted  in  an  open  ditch 
to  each  building  would  freeze  in  winter,  make  the  ground 
near  its  banks  too  damp,  and  be  in  the  way  of  plowing, 
moving  buildings,  and  other  operations ;  besides,  few 
lots  suitable  in  other  respects  can  be  found  where  the 
slope  of  ground,  with  water  supply  at  top,  admits  of  the 
construction  of  such  ditches.  Each  flock  of  fowls  needs 
a  pailful  of  water  daily,  taking  account  of  the  evapora- 
tion in  hot  weather,  and  the  necessity  of  emptying  the 
drinking  vessels  at  night  in  winter,  to  prevent  freezing. 
Snch  an  amount  of  water  could  not  well  be  carried  by 
hand.  By  means  of  a  cask  blocked  up  in  a  compara- 
tively high  position  on  a  wagon,  a  strong  head  is 
obtained,  and  when  going  the  rounds,  watering,  the 
operator,  by  the  use  of  hose  and  nozzle,  and  a  cut-off  to 
slacken  or  increase  the  flow  at  will,  and  by  having  the 
drinking  vessels  stand  at  a  convenient  place,  can,  with- 
out leaving  his  seat  in  the  wagon,  not  only  fill  the  recep- 
tacles, but  clean  and  rinse  them  first. 

26 


SUPPLYING    THEIR    NEEDS.  27 

The  most  convenient  wagon  for  our  use  is  that  some- 
times kept  for  moving  stone  at  quarries,  and  called  a 
stone  cutter's  dray,  shown  in  Fig.  3.  In  Maine,  such 
are  used  very  commonly  to  carry  timber  about  sawmills, 
and  on  short  routes,  where  no  stumps  or  stones  are  to 
be  passed  over,  thus  saving  much  lifting. 

It  is  desirable  that  the  driver  should  ride  the  10-rod 
stages  between  the  fowl  houses  to  lighten  his  labor,  and 
that  the  team  should  trot  to  save  time.  But  to  climb 
in  and  out  of  an  ordinary  wagon  to  ride  10  rods,  would 
involve  more  exertion  than  walking.  Besides,  the  labor 
of  lifting  grain  in  and  out  will  be  much  less  in  a  low 


FIG.  3.     STONE  CUTTER'S  DRAY. 

wagon  ;  the  water  cask  may  be  filled  and  drawn  from 
readily,  and  it  is  especially  convenient  in  gathering  dry 
earth.  The  vehicle  should  be  built  just  heavy  enough 
to  support  a  barrel  of  water,  five  or  six  bushels  of 
grain,  and  the  driver ;  or,  when  rigged  for  earth,  the 
amount  desired  to  be  curried  is  about  equal  to  an  ordi- 
nary horse  cart  load.  It  is  not  intended  to  be  used  off 
the  premises  at  all,  and  as  there  are  no  stones,  hum- 
mocks, or  the  like,  and  no  deep  ruts,  the  body  is  set  so 
as  to  clear  the  ground  by  only  8  in.  (10  in.  are  allowed 
in  the  Maine  wagons).  The  body  is  12  ft.  long,  and  4 
ft.  2  in.  wide  behind,  and  3  ft.  wide  in  front,  the  taper- 
ing shape  being  necessary  to  give  a  chance  to  turn  the 


28  AN   EGG   FARM. 

wagon  without  cramping ;  and  the  turning  is  also  facili- 
tated by  making  the  axletrees  so  long  that  the  wheels 
track  5  ft.  7  in.,  or  about  4  in.  wider  than  a  common 
horse  cart,  The  side  boards  are  but  8  in.  wide — the  aim 
being  to  keep  as  near  the  ground  as  possible — and  of 
2-in.  plank,  serving  as  part  of  the  body  frame.  Four 
crosspieces,  underneath,  fastened  to  the  side  boards  by 
stout  clamp  bolts,  complete  the  frame  ;  and  the  whole 
is  so  constructed  that  no  part  of  the  body  projects  from 
under  the  side  boards,  the  compactness  of  shape  serving 
a  useful  purpose  when  we  come  to  load  dry  earth.  The 
rear  axletree  is  made  in  one  piece  of  wrought  iron  2  in. 
square.  The  kingbolt  should  be  made  stout,  and  allowed 
to  turn  freely  in  the  forward  axletree.  To  carry  eggs 
without  breakage,  a  movable  stand  for  the  egg  basket, 
furnished  with  springs,  can  be  set  on  the  wagon.  A 
low  sled  may  take  the  place  of  the  wagon  when  the  sea- 
son requires  it. 

The  road  may  be  constructed  quite  narrow,  as  there 
will  be  no  occasion  to  pass  other  teams ;  and  an  easy 
way  to  raise  a  path  sufficiently  to  avoid  wet,  is  to  plow  a 
strip  of  ground  a  number  of  times  over,  always  throwing 
the  furrow  toward  the  center,  or,  better  yet,  use  a  road 
grader,  and  the  rounded  ridges  thus  made  with  ditches 
on  each  side  are  to  remain  in  the  field  permanently,  and 
may  be  cropped  with  the  rest  of  the  land,  if  desired. 
The  wheels  of  the  wagon  are  made  with  very  wide  tires, 
as  shown  in  the  cut,  and  these  must  not  be  driven  in 
the  same  track  twice  in  succession,  but  used  as  rollers  to 
smooth  down  the  whole  ridge,  for  there  must  be  no  deep 
ruts  to  cause  the  wagon  body  to  graze  the  ground,  or  to 
interfere  with  the  use  of  the  bicycle,  which  will  be  found 
very  convenient  for  some  purposes. 

COLLECTING  AND  STOKING  DRY  EARTH. 

To  gather  and  store  dry  earth,  the  following  plan  is 
submitted  as  available,  not  only  for  the  poultry  business, 


SUPPLYING   THEIR    XEEDS.  29 

and  that  invaluable  invention,,  the  earth  closet,  but  for 
preparing  absorbents  and  litter  for  stables  and  pigpens. 
The  best  farmers  use  dry  earth  for  all  their  animals,  not 
only  for  the  cleanliness  and  health  of  the  stock,  but  to 
lighten  the  labor  of  attendance,  substitute  a  cheap  litter 
for  straw,  and  save  every  particle  of  manure. 

The  spot  of  ground  set  apart  for  the  dry  earth  harvest 
should  be  kept  free  from  weeds  and  turf,  and  harrowed 
as  shallow  as  possible,  using  a  harrow  with  numerous 
very  short  teeth,  or,  what  is  the  very  best  for  the  pur- 
pose, the  barbed  wire  drag,  previously  described.  The 
ground  should  not  have  been  plowed  for  a  year,  the 
object  being  to  pulverize  it  only  at  the  surface,  for  in 


FIG.  4.     SCRAPER  FOR  DRY  EARTH. 


this  way  the  top  soil  can  be  better  kept  from,  absorb- 
ing moisture  from  below.  There  is  seldom  a  summer 
without  a  spell  of  several  weeks  when,  the  soil  for  a 
couple  of  inches  at  the  top  is  almost  dry.  Select  such  a 
dry  spell  for  the  work. 

The  implements  used  are  a  light  scraper,  Fig.  4,  5  ft. 
long  and  10  in.  wide,  and  a  shovel,  Fig.  5,  2  ft.  3  in. 
long  and  2  ft.  wide.  They  are  made  lighter  than  simi- 
lar ones  designed  to  work  among  stones  and  gravel,  and 
both  are  intended  to  be  always  used  in  a  nearly  perpen- 
dicular position,  and,  therefore,  the  backs  need  not  be 
shod  for  wear,  as  is  usual  with  team  shovels  and  scrapers. 


30  AN   EGG   FARM. 

They  are  both  built  of  wood,  edged  and  bound  with 
iron.  The  shovel  is  made  somewhat  corcave,  being 
designed  to  move  a  pretty  full  load  for  a  short  distance  ; 
the  scraper,  which  only  skims  the  surface,  is  made 
straight.  A  rope  is  used  instead  of  an  iron  bail  for  draft 
attachment  in  the  shovel  to  make  it  lighter,  and  for  the 
same  reason  the  iron  edge  and  bands  are  thin.  The 
mass  moved  being  very  dry,  light,  and  mellow,  admits 
of  a  rather  slight  construction  of  the  implement ;  and, 
as  this  is  to  be  used  by  backing  the  team  at  every  shov- 
elful, and  pulling  the  shovel  back  by  hand,  as  little 
weight  as  possible  is  desirable.  The  wooden  rod  con- 


FIG.  5.     SHOVEL    FOR   DRY  EARTH. 

necting  the  two  crooked  handles  of  the  shovel  is  essen  • 
tial,  serving  as  a  convenient  handle  in  backing.  Now, 
during  a  time  of  dry  weather,  by  harrowing  your  ground 
with  the  short-toothed  harrow  or  the  barbed  wire  drag, 
half  a  dozen  times  on  a  hot  day,  the  soil  will  become 
sufficiently  pulverized,  and  also  advanced  one  stage  in  dry- 
ness.  The  next  da}7 — watching  the  weather  as  closely  as 
a  haymaker — hitch  your  horse  to  the  scraper,  and  try  to 
scrape  1  in.  deep,  no  more,  and  gather  the  earth  into 
small  windrows,  extending  regularly  across  the  field,  the 
operation  being  like  raking  hay.  Next,  make  the  team 
follow  the  windrows,  and  cock  the  dirt  into  heaps  of  a 


SUPPLYING   THEIR   NEEDS.  31 

cart  load  each.  Now,  you  have  piles  of  earth  nearly  dry, 
but  they  will  not  grow  any  drier  until  placed  so  that 
moisture  cannot  be  absorbed  from  below.  To  complete 
the  drying,  platforms  of  boards,  Fig.  6,  must  be  pro- 
vided;  these  are  8  ft.  square  and  built  wedge-shaped, 
and  14  in.  high  at  the  highest  part.  These  are  now 
drawn  thick  end  first  by  the  team  upon  the  planks 
which  form  the  sides  and  serve  as  runners,  and  located 
one  by  each  heap  with  the  thin  edge  toward  it. 

Attach  the  team  to  the  shovel  by  a  rope  about  12  ft. 
long,  and  transfer  the  earth  to  the  platforms,  heaping 
the  first  shovelful  upon  the  edge  next  the  pile  to  cover 
it,  so  that  it  may  not  obstruct  the  shovel.  The  plat- 
forms should  be  on  the  north  side  of  the  heaps  at  the 
commencement,  so  as  to  slope  toward  the  south,  and 


FIG.  G.  PLATFORM  FOR  DRYING  EARTH. 

afford  direct  exposure  to  the  sun.  In  two  or  three  days  of 
fine  weather  the  piles  will  be  nearly  as  free  from  moisture 
as  if  kiln-dried,  if  the  earth  has  been  well  pulverized,  for 
it  is  so  loose  and  porous  that  the  moisture  from  the  bot- 
tom finds  its  way  to  the  surface  as  fast  as  the  latter 
dries.  If  the  weather  becomes  threatening,  house  the 
earth  without  waiting  for  further  drying,  or  cover  with 
hay  caps,  according  to  circumstances.  When  ready  for 
housing,  draw  the  wagon  close  to  the  nortji  side  of  the 
platform,  and  connect  the  two  with  a  skid,  5  ft.  by  14 
in.,  with  teeth  projecting  over  the  body  to  hold  up  the 
shovel,  and  let  the  earth  drop  through.  The  same 
length  of  rope  between  the  horse ia#4-  shoveL^will  be 


6%  AN   EGG    FARM. 

needed  as  when  piling  earth  upon  the  platforms.  Fig. 
7  shows  the  manner  of  loading.  Of  course,  the  pile  in 
the  wagon  must  be  leveled  off  occasionally,  hue  this  is 
easily  and  quickly  done  by  using  a  big  hoe,  such  as  is 
sold  for  mixing  mortar. 

The  flooring  of  the  wagon,  when  used  for  carrying 
feed  and  water,  consists  of  movable  boards,  which  are 
taken  out  with  the  hind  board  when  preparing  to  haul 
earth,  and  1 1-2-inch  planks,  5  in.  wide,  with  planed 
edges,  fitting  accurately,  ave  substituted.  One  end  of  each 
plank  projects  a  few  inches  behind  the  body,  and  is  so 


FIG.   7.      LOADING  DRY  EARTH. 


narrowed,  Fig.  8,  that  a  stout  stick,  2  or  3  ft.  long,  may 
be  inserted  between  the  planks.  By  prying  them  up, 
one  at  a  time,  the  wagon  is  readily  unloaded.  There 
will  not  be  any  appreciable  leakage  between  the  planks 
in  hauling  20  or  30  rods,  and,  to  save  travel,  the  earth 
plat  should  not  be  more  than  that  distance  from  the 
storeroom  at  farthest.  An  under-ground  basement  in 
the  granary  of  the  establishment  is  the  proper  store- 
room, and,  by  driving  in  above,  the  load  may  he  dis- 
charged through  a  trap  door  in  the  floor  into  a  capacious, 
hopper-shaped  bin.  See  Figs.  45  and  46.  Underneath 


SUPPLYING   THEIR   XEEDS.  33 

the  bin  should  be  a  space  to  drive  in  winter  the  wagon 
or  sled,  and,  by  pulling  a  slide,  let  the -earth  fall  until 
a  load  is  obtained  to  be  carried  to  the  stations.  In  this 
way,  the  earth  is  pulverized,  heaped  upon  the  drying 
platforms,  loaded  upon  the  wagon,  transferred  to  the 
bin,  and  reloaded,  without  touching  a  hand  shovel  to  it 
at  all.  The  wagon  may  be  loaded  with  the  aid  of  the 
team  shovel  in  less  thun  three  minutes. 

The  farmer  may  make  an  earth  bin,  of  the  kind 
described,  in  his  barn  cellar  under  a  trap  in  the  barn 
floor.  The  earth,  upon  a  tract  of  such  mellow  loam  as 
is  suitable  for  poultry,  will  become,  by  pulverizing  and 
drying,  reduced  completely  to  dust.  The  loading  and 
unloading  by  team  power  not  only  saves  labor,  but  over- 
comes the  difficulties  inseparable  from  shoveling  such  a 
light  powder,  that  fli^s  in  the  least  wind.  If  the 
weather  is  such  that  the  earth  gets  dry  enough  without 
the  necessity  of  placing  it  on 
platforms,  like  that  shown  in 
Fig.  6,  then  the  dry  earth 
may  be  taken  from  the  piles 
to  the  storeroom  by  using  a 
wheel  scraper  instead  of  ttie  FIG>  8'  BOTTOM  OF  DRAY' 
dray.  In  the  fall,  when  dry  weather  gives  oppor- 
tunity, labor  may  be  still  further  saved  by  scraping 
heaps  of  dry  earth  directly  upon  the  winter  sites  of  the 
fowl  houses,  and  drawing  as  many  of  the  latter  as  are 
rendered  tenantless  by  the  sale  of  the  old  stock  upon  the 
heaps,  where  the  earth  can  remain  sheltered  awaiting 
the  new  flock  of  pullets,  and  no  wagon  is  needed  at  all 
for  the  earth  in  that  case. 

After  the  dry  earth  has  been  used  in  the  houses 
through  the  winter,  the  final  disposition  of  it  must  be 
made  in  the  spring,  as  much  with  an  eye  to  labor-saving 
as  in  collecting  it.  The  fowl  houses  are  to  be  pried  up, 
to  loosen  their  sills  from  the  dust  heap  in  which  they 
3 


34  AN   EGG   FARM. 

are  embedded,  and  drawn  off  to  summer  quarters.  Then 
the  earth,  mixed  with  the  manure  is  to  be  first  moved 
with  the  shovel,  and  scattered  about  the  immediate 
vicinity,  one  shovelful  in  a  place.  The  scraper  is  next 
used  to  spread  the  heaps,  and  the  harrow  comes  last, 
reversing  the  order  of  gathering. 


CHAPTER  V. 

HOUSES   FOR   LAYERS. 

The  form,  proportions  and  fixtures  of  the  fowl  house, 
to  secure  a  few  eggs  and  chickens  for  home  use,  are  of 
small  consequence,  so  long  as  the  proprietor  has  invented 
something  a  little  different  from  what  has  ever  been 
made  before,  and  is  satisfied.  But  business  upon  a  large 
scale  demands  buildings  that  shall  conduce  in  the  high- 
est degree  to  the  thrift  of  their  inmates,  and  to  the  con- 
venience of  the  attendant,  while  the  outlay,  in  both 
material  and  construction,  should  be  the  lowest  possible. 
The  buildings  generally  put  up  cost  two  or  three  dollars 
for  each  fowl  provided  for,  while  fanciers  sometimes 
expend  five  dollars  or  more  per  head  for  the  housing  of 
their  poultry.  There  are  three  classes  of  adult  fowls  nec- 
essary under  our  plan,  which  we  designate  as  breeders, 
sitters  and  layers  ;  and  the  latter,  which  are  most  numer- 
ous, are  housed  at  a  cost  of  materials  not  exceeding  forty 
cents  for  each  bird,  estimates  being  based  on  hemlock 
lumber  at  twenty-three  dollars  per  thousand.  The 
accommodations  for  the  breeding  and  sitting  stock  are 
necessarily  more  expensive,  and  there  is,  in  addition, 
the  cost  of  coops  and  appliances  for  raising  chickens 
enough  to  replace  two-thirds  of  the  adults  yearly. 

The  house  used  at  the  stations,  for  the  layers,  is  rep- 
resented by  the  larger  of  the  two  buildings  shown  in 
Fig.  9.  It  is  not  too  large  to  be  moved  with  conven- 
ience, and  nothing  smaller  would  accommodate  a  flock 
of  fifty,  the  number  to  be  kept  at  each  station,  with 
perches,  nests,  and  sufficient  ground  room  in  stormy 

85 


36 


AN    EGG   FARM. 


' 


weather,  and  at  the  same  time  afford  hight  enough  to 
give  a  circulation  of  air  over  the  perches,  and  a  proper 

pitch  of  roof.     It  is  fif- 
teen feet  long,  eight  and 
one-half  feet  wide,   and 
four    and    one-half    feet 
high  at  the  peak.      Let 
it  be  noted  that  any  at- 
tempt to   build   so   that 
S  the  attendant  may  enter, 
|  either  makes  a  stooping, 
g  slow  job  of  every  opera- 
is  tion,  from  year's  end  to 
^  year's  end,  or  if  the  house 
/ 1  g  is  carried  high  enough  to 
2  'allow   standing  upright, 
^  the  weight  interferes  with 
'•2  moving,  and  the  lumber 
/  ,|  <  costs  too  much.     It  is  as 
a  easy  to  reach  into  a  build- 
*  ing     designed     for     the 
!ffl  *  keeper  to  stand  outside, 
'  =  as  to  reach  into  a  handy 
sj  cupboard.     To  give  suf- 

2  ficient  air,  the  room  is  as 
fe 
lofty  in  proportion  to  the 

size  of  the  birds  or  their 
breathing  capacity,  as  a 
stable  twenty  feet  high 
would  be  for  cattle.  It 
is  just  about  as  neces- 
sary for  the  poulterer  to 
have  a  roof  over  his  head  for  protection  in  all  weathers 
while  at  work,  as  it  is  for  a  farmer  to  make  a  shed  over 
his  land  to  defend  his  complexion  from  the  sun  while 
haying,  or  from  the  rain  while  transplanting  cabbages. 


HOUSES   FOR   LAYERS.  37 

The  part  of  the  roof  on  the  south  side  at  A,  A,  A, 
and  nearly  all  on  the  north,  consists  of  hinged  doors 
opening  to  the  right  or  left,  and  overlapping  when 
closed,  to  shed  rain.  When  it  is  desired  to  whitewash, 
throw  open  all  the  doors,  thus  turning  the  house  inside 
out,  take  out  the  perches  and  nests,  all  built  movable, 
and  there  will  be  no  nook  or  cranny  of  the  woodwork 
that  the  brush  cannot  be  made  to  reach  with  ease,  and 
no  lack  of  elbow  room.  This  arrangement  of  doors 
makes  it  convenient  also  to  catch  fowls  upon  the  perches 
by  night.  The  doors  should  shut  as  snugly  as  may  be 
in  coarse  work,  and  the  cracks  unavoidably  left  around 
them  will  afford  all  the  ventilation  needed  in  winter, 
while  in  summer  they  may  be  opened  more  or  less  widely, 
according  to  the  weather.  When  it  is  warm,  yet  wet, 
they  may  be  partly  opened  and  propped  up,  and  boards 
put  across  their  edges  to  shed  rain.  It  is  very  desirable, 
under  any  plan  for  henneries,  to  build  so  that  while 
moderately  tight  in  winter,  they  may  be  thrown  open 
on  every  side  in  hot  weather ;  for  fowls  are  warmly  clad, 
and  suffer  much  from  the  heat  when  in  buildings  made, 
as  is  too  frequently  the  case,  only  with  reference  to  the 
cold.  The  doors  which  form  the  north  roof  project 
six  inches  at  the  ridge,  to  keep  out  rain,  as  there  is  no 
ridge  cap. 

The  two  windows  in  the  south  roof  are  glazed, 
greenhouse  fashion  ;  that  is,  with  overlapping  panes, 
that  snow  may  slide  from  them  readily  as  soon  as  loos- 
ened by  the  warmth  inside.  They  are  two  feet  high 
and  three  feet  wide,  and  set  eighteen  inches  from  the 
peak  of  the  roof.  .  A  strip  of  tin  is  fastened  over  the 
upper  part  of  the  sash,  and  the  sides  and  bottom  of  the 
sash  overlap  the  roof,  to  be  rain-proof.  The  shutters, 
5,  B,  used  to  darken  the  building  on  certain  necessary 
occasions,  elsewhere  referred  to,  are  hinged  to  the  lower 
part  of  the  sash,  and  when  opened,  as  in  the  illustration, 


38  AN   EGG    FARM. 

rest  upon  the  roof  below  the  windows.  The  side  sills 
project  at  both  ends  of  the  building ;  they  are  beveled, 
runner- fash  ion,  and  strengthened  with  iron,  where  holes 
are  bored  to  attach  chains  ;  thus  the  house  may  be  drawn 
by  either  end,  for  the  purposes  before  described.  The 
sills,  which  receive  the  principal  strain  during  moving, 
should  be  so  well  braced  as  to  keep  the  whole  building 
in  shape.  The  end  sills,  of  two-inch  plank,  should  be 
spiked  upon  the  top  of  the  others,  flatwise,  so  as  not  to 
touch  the  ground  while  moving,  and  the  side  sills,  four 
inches  square,  should  be  of  chestnut  or  oak,  to  be  as 
durable  as  possible,  for  they  rest  on  the  ground  during 
a  good  part  of  the  year.  The  spruce  rafters,  two  by 
three  inches,  which  answer  for  studs  and  rafters  both, 
should  be  set  at  such  distances  apart  as  will  correspond 
with  the  width  of  the  doors  and  windows  which  are 
fastened  to  them. 

A  stout  ridgepole,  sawn  of  a  triangular  shape,  runs 
the  length  of  the  building  underneath  the  rafters,  and 
two  sticks  are  fastened  to  this  ridgepole,  one  five  feet 
from  each  end,  and  braced  upon  the  center  of  the  end 
sills  to  give  firmness  ;  for  the  covering,  consisting  chiefly 
of  doors,  does  not  strengthen  the  building,  as  in  ordinary 
cases,  where  the  covering  is  nailed  to  the  frame.  C,  C, 
are  doors,  each  three  by  one  foot,  opening  outwards  and 
downwards,  to  give  the  keeper  access  to  the  nests,  which 
are  one  foot  square,  and  the  same  in  depth,  and  so  con- 
trived that  the  hens  enter  them  at  one  side  from  a  pas- 
sage six  inches  wide  and  one  foot  high,  boarded  at  side 
and  top,  running  the  length  of  the  row  of  nests,  and  are 
thus  indulged  in  their  liking  for  privacy  while  laying. 
The  nests  are  tight  upon  the  top ;  the  outside  door 
should  fit  closely,  and  the  opening  admitting  the  fowls 
to  the  passage  be  made  so  small  that  the  nests  will  be 
rather  dark.  It  is  found  that  when  nests  are  open  to 
view  from  the  main  apartment,  hens  will,  in  stormy 


HOUSES   FOR   LAYERS.  39 

weather,  for  lack  of  other  employment,  sometimes  enter 
them  to  scratch  for  food,  and  thus  by  chance  break  eggs 
and  learn  to  eat  them,  and  acquire  the  habit  of  pecking 
at  and  devouring  eggs  as  fast  as  laid.  But  a  darkened 
nest  will  deter  them  from  entering,  except  to  lay,  for 
which  purpose  they  prefer  a  dark,  low  corner.  There  is 
a  row  of  six  nests  running  across  the  building  at  each 
end,  making  twelve,  which  will  be  sufficient,  as  it  will 
not  happen  that  more  than  that  number  out  of  a  flock 
will  need  them  at  once.  The  passages  are  made  so  that 
they  may  be  taken  out  with  the  nests  for  whitewashing. 
The  end  sills,  of  plank  18  in.  wide,  serve  as  a  tight  floor 
for  the  nests  and  passage.  The  perches,  two  in  number, 
are  18  in.  apart,  and  each  is  18  in.  from  the  roof,  and 

2  ft.  higher  than  the  sills.     Perches  should  be  of  2  l-2x 

3  1-2  in.  sawed  stuff,  the  widest  part  up,  with  the  upper 
corners  rounded  oh*  a  very  little.     From  four  to  five  aver- 
age-sized fowls  will  occupy  2  ft.  of  perch.     The  perches, 
being  each  12  ft.  long,  will  accommodate  a  flock  of  fifty, 
and  are  to  be  placed  SQ  as  not  to  extend  over  the  part 
occupied  by  the  nests. 

The  drinking  vessel  stands  upon  one  of  the  platforms 
formed  by  the  nests,  and  upon  these  platforms  are  also 
shallow  boxes  containing  gravel,  pounded  charcoal,  and 
a  mixture  of  loam,  sand  and  oyster-shell  lime,  made  into 
an  easily  crumbled  mortar.  The  boxes  are  ten  inches 
wide,  and  being  placed  next  the  end  wall,  leave  a  space 
eight  inches  wide  upon  the  platform,  for  the  fowls  to  stand 
upon.  The  drinking  pail  and  gravel  boxes  are  protected, 
by  their  elevation,  from  the  dirt  that  would  otherwise 
be  thrown  into  them  by  the  fowls  when  scratching  and 
dusting,  and  are  fronted  by  slats  with  openings  six  by 
two  and  three-quarter  inches  between  them.  An  open- 
ing is  made  in  the  end  wall  over  the  pail  that  is  just 
large  enough  to  admit  the  spout  of  a  large  watering  pot, 
or  the  nozzle  of  a  line  of  hose  attached  to  the  water  cask 


40  AN    EGG    FARM. 

on  the  dray.  The  door,  D,  one  foot  wide,  opening 
downwards,  is  for  removing  the  pail  and  gravel  boxes 
when  desired,  and  when  fastened  ajar  will  be  found 
more  convenient  for  ventilation  than  the  roof  doors, 
when  the  weather  is  only  moderately  warm.  Both  ends 
of  the  building  alike  are  furnished  with  doors. 

In  the  summer  this  building  may  have  its  roof  doors 
partly  opened  by  day,  as  in  Fig.  10,  and  its  sills  rest  on 
the  ground,  ready  for  moving ;  but  during  the  severest 
weather,  generally  about  three  or  three  and  a  half 
months  of  the  year,  this  building  does  not  stand  with 
sills  upon  the  ground,  but  it  rests,  as  in  Fig.  11,  upon 


FIG.   10.     HOUSE   FOR  LAYKRS— SUMMER  ARRANGEMENT. 

the  edges  of  a  box  or  bin,  B,  of  dimensions  correspond- 
ing with  the  center  of  the  sills  of  the  building,  made  of 
planks  nine  inches  wide  and  two  inches  thick,  like  a 
mortar  bed  with  no  bottom,  filled  with  dry  earth.  This 
should  be  set  upon  ridges  thrown  up  by  the  plow  or 
road  grader,  as  previously  described,  and  it  will  be 
found  that,  by  starting  with  the  earth  dry  in  the  fall,  it 
will  not  absorb  moisture  from  the  ground  beneath  dur- 
ing winter  any  faster  than  it  dries  away  from  the  sur- 
face, where  the  fowls  keep  it  stirred.  There  need  be  no 
cleaning  of  the  house  while  thus  arranged  for  winter, 


HOUSES   FOR   LAYERS. 


41 


but  about  once  a  month  an  inch  or  two  of  dry  earth 
may  be  added.  There  will  be  no  accumulations  under 
the  perches  if  the  birds  are  not  kept  too  profusely  sup- 


plied with  gravel  at  that  season,  as  they  should  be  to 
induce  them  to  pulverize  every  portion  of  the  manure 
and  mix  it  with  the  dry  earth,  in  search  of  the  gravel 


42  AN   EGG   FARM. 

which  is  very  frequently  voided.  There  can  be  no  objec- 
tion to  saving  labor  by  inducing  the  birds  to  perform 
the  work  of  scavengers,  which  will  give  them  salutary 
exercise,  for  it  is  not  intended  that  they  shall  be  deprived 
of  as  much  gravel  as  they  need,  but  only  forced  to  use 
the  same  many  times  over.  The  bin,  as  it  may  be 
called,  should  be  strengthened  with  braces  across  the 
corners,  and  kept  from  spreading  by  the  pressure  of  its 
contents  by  strips  nailed  from  side  to  side.  After  the 
building  has  been  moved  in  spring  to  a  new  station,  the 
bin  is  to  be  pried  up  until  the  earth  drops  through  it, 
having  no  bottom,  and  when  empty  it  may  be  readily 


FIG.  12.     PEW  FOR  MOVING  FOWLS 

hauled  by  team,  like  a  sled,  to  the  place  where  it  is  to 
be  used,  as  will  be  explained,  in  connection  with  chicken 
raising.  The  building  is  hauled  onto  this  bin  in  the 
fall  and  off  in  the  spring,  by  taking  the  wedge-shaped 
platform  for  drying  earth,  previously  figured,  for  a  skid, 
and  attaching  the  team  to  a  rope  twenty  feet  or  more 
long,  and  using  small  rollers.  It  is  a  quick  and  not 
over  troublesome  operation,  for  it  must  be  recollected 
that  the  house  is  not  large  or  heavy. 

Figure  12  represents  a  pen  to  move  fowls  in  when  their 
houses  ire  to  be  moved  a  considerable  distance,  to  sum- 


HOUSES   FOR   LAYERS.  43 

mer  quarters  and  to  winter  quarters.  When  this  pen  is 
put  in  the  place  occupied  by  the  feed  room  at  the  end  of 
the  passage,  Figs.  9  and  11,  the  fowls  are  baited  into  it, 
the  door,  A,  corresponding  to  an  opening  in  the  side  of 
the  end  of  the  passage,  C.  The  partitions  in  the  pen 
separate  the  flock  into  squads,  to  prevent  too  many  fowls 
huddling  together  and  trampling  each  other  during 
moving,  at  which  time  a  canvas  covering  should  exclude 
the  light.  Chains  may  be  passed  around  the  ends  of 
the  crosspiece  for  draft.  The  artist  has  made  the 
runners  turn  up  too  much,  a  bevel  merely,  like  that  on 
the  sills  of  the  movable  houses,  being  all  that  is  necessary. 
During  the  winter,  a  low  structure,  6  ft.  wide,  12 
ft.  long,  and  1  1-2  ft.  high  on  one  side  and  3  1-2  ft.  on 
the  other,  seen  at  the  left  in  Fig.  9,  serves  the  purpose 
of  a  feeding  room,  and  the  rest  of  the  year  is  used  as  a 
shelter  for  chickens.  Its  winter  location  is  about  4  ft. 
from  the  larger  building.  E,  E,  E,  E,  represent  doors, 
which  overlap  each  other  to  shed  rain,  and  when  closed 
rest  upon  the  highest  or  north  wall,  and  open  upwards 
and  to  the  south,  resting  upon  a  rail  attached  to  posts 
set  in  the  ground.  In  each  door  is  a  window  3  ft.  square, 
glazed,  as  are  all  the  windows  in  the  various  fowl  houses, 
greenhouse  style.  This  feed  house  is  movable,  being 
furnished  with  planks  set  edgewise,  with  runner-shaped 
ends  for  side  sills.  Inside,  a  feed  box,  slatted  on  both 
sides,  rests  on  cleats  attached  to  the  end  walls,  20  in. 
from  the  north  wall,  and  near  the  top  of  the  room,  so 
that  dirt  cannot  be  scratched  into  it.  It  has  a  shelf  7 
in.  wide  on  both  sides  in  front  of  the  slats,  on  which 
the  birds  stand  while  feeding,  and  contains  a  trough 
made  by  nailing  boards  3  in.  wide  to  each  edge  of  a 
board  5  in.  wide.  A  door,  F,  in.  one  end  of  the  feed 
room,  large  enough  to  admit  a  fowl,  communicates  with 
a  similar  door,  G,  in  the  south  side  of  the  main  build- 
ing, by  a  movable  covered  passage  51-2  ft.  long,  11-4 


44  AN"   EGG   FARM. 

fc.  high,  and  1  ft.  wide,  it  being  like  a  box  with  a  lid, 
and  but  one  end,  and  with  an  opening  on  one  .side. 

This  passage  is  not  shown  in  the  cut,  but  appears  at 
C,  Fig.  11. Every  night  in  winter,  after  the  fowls  are  at 
roost,  the  door,  Fig.  9,  should  be  closed,  and  the  wijulow 
shutters  of  the  main  building  likewise.  In  the  morning 
a  mixture  of  vegetables,  boiled  and  mashed,  scalded 
meal,  and  a  little  meat  boiled  and  chopped  fine,  is 
placed  in  the  feed  trough,  and  the  daily  rations  of  hard 
grain  buried  underneath  straw,  which  covers  the  ground 
of  the  feeding  apartment  to  the  depth  of  eight  or  ten 
inches.  The  fowls  are  prevented,  by  the  shutters,  from 
looking  on.  Next  open  the  passage,  and  in  a  minute 
the  fowls  will  all  be  at  the  feed  box.  After  finishing 
the  soft  feed,  the  grain,  consisting  in  part  of  buckwheat 
or  cracked  corn  or  wheat  screenings,  so  as  to  make  as 
much  work  as  possible  to  find  it,  will  be  scratched 
for  at  intervals  all  day  long.  A  little  practice  will 
enable  the  attendant  to  give  just  enough,  and  have  none 
left  over  nig«ht.  Placing  grain  for  scratching  indoors  is 
only  for  inclement  weather,  however. 

During  a  few  of  the  coldest  spells, — such  as  usually 
occur  three  or  four  times  in  the  winter,  and  last  three 
to  seven  days, — and  during  storms,  fowls  prefer  to 
remain  indoors  all  day ;  but  they  should  never,  except  in 
the  morning,  before  feeding,  be  prevented  from  going 
out  if  they  choose.  Altogether,  there  are  not  usually 
twenty  days  in  a  year  during  which  fowls  will  voluntarily 
keep  inside  all  day.  Snow  should  be  cleared  from  a  plat 
of  ground  at  each  station,  with  the  aid  of  the  team,  and 
the  scraper  and  shovel  previously  described,  or  a  road 
grader.  If  the  winter  is  open  and  mild,  have  a  pile  of 
straw  out  of  doors  with  grain  buried  under  it,  using  the 
broadcast  seeder  and  hay  tedder  before  mentioned,  and 
whenever  there  is  no  snow  start  the  broadcast  seeder 
and  scatter  a  very  little  finely  cracked  corn  with  the 


HOUSES   FOE   LAYERS.  45 

meal  sifted  out,  or  millet  seed,  far  and  wide  on  portions 
of  the  range  not  provided  with,  straw,  to  encourage  the 
habit  of  running  around  and  searching.  Keep  your 
fowls  always  on  the  move.  As  soon  as  the  buildings  are 
moved  to  the  new  stations  in  spring,  and  the  feeding- 
rooms  are  also  drawn  off  to  be  used  in  housing  young 
chickens,  the  feed  boxes  are  taken  out,  they  merely  rest- 
ing on  cleats  without  being  fastened,  and  carried  to  the 
stations,  where  they  stand  on  the  ground  out  of  doors 
during  summer,  for  use  each  morning,  chopped  vegeta- 
bles, meat  or  other  soft  feed  being  placed  in  them,  out 
of  sight  of  the  birds,  as  before. 

The  winter  quarters  for  the  laying  stock  are  further 
represented  in  Fig.  11.  In  this  cut  the  same  building 
is  shown  as  in  Fig.  9.  The  passage  leading  to  the  feed 
room  is  shown  in  one  of  these  cuts,  and  the  feed  room 
is  shown  in  the  other.  In  Fig.  11,  certain  useful  con- 
trivances for  windbreaks  are  illustrated,  these  being 
highly  prized  by  fowls  in  cold  weather.  When  the 
house  is  located  for  winter,  the  doors  in  the  north  roof 
are  covered  with  building  paper  in  overlapping  sheets, 
tacked  on  slightly  so  that  it  may  be  removed  in  spring. 
Straw  is  laid  over  the  paper  to  the  depth  of  a  foot.  A 
temporary  shed  is  made  for  a  rod  east,  and  the  same  dis- 
tance west,  of  the  building,  connecting  with  the  roof  of 
the  latter,  the  platforms  for  drying  earth,  Fig.  6,  being 
used  for  this  purpose  and  supported  by  stout  rails.  By 
turning  a  corner,  as  at  the  post,  A,  east,  and  also  west 
of  the  building,  this  shed  is  made  to  inclose  three  sides 
of  a  court  which  is  open  to  the  south.  The  gaps  in  the 
roof  of  the  shed  at  the  corners,  and  the  cracks  between 
the  platforms,  are  covered  with  straw  and  boards. 
There  is  nothing  that  fowls  love  better  than  convenient 
nooks  where  they  can  retreat  from  the  crowd  of  their 
fellows,  and  select  their  own  company.  Confinement 
brings  not  only  loss  of  health,  but  the  vices  of  feather- 


46  AX    EGG    FARM. 

eating  and  egg-eating.  No  system  of  diet  will  remove 
the  liability  of  fowls  that  are  habitually  kept  indoors  to 
learn  to  pluck  each  other.  If  the  room  is  large  and  the 
flock  small,  there  may  be  no  risk  of  this,  but  the  expense 
of  such  quarters  would  be  fatal  to  success.  When  fowls 
are  allowed  freedom  they  never  learn  to  eat  feathers. 
If  anybody  wants  to  keep  poultry  in  narrow  quarters 
under  some  highly  artificial  plan,  with  no  provisions 
made  for  securing  exercise,  and  prevent  outdoor  range 
in  winter  in  order  to  promote  laying,  he  is  welcome  to 
do  so.  But  nature,  if  thwarted,  is  sure  to  have  her 
revenge,  if  not  in  one  way,  then  in  another.  Whether 
indoors  or  out,  the  birds  must  be  busily  employed  every 
day,  and  then  they  will  be  happy  and  contented,  and 
not  learn  egg-eating,  feather-plucking,  or  other  abnor- 
mal practices.  Without  a  chance  to  scratch  in  earth  or 
straw,  they  will  be  as  badly  off  as  a  rich  man  with  noth- 
ing to  do.  Straw  is  scattered  under  the  sheds,  and  on 
pleasant  days  a  few  handfuls  of  feed  are  buried  under  it, 
using  a  fork;  but  covering  grain  by  hand  in  this  way 
takes  time  and  should  be  resorted  to  only  in  case  of  very 
bad  weather.  When  the  weather  admits,  a  large  pile  is 
used  for  a  scratching  place,  situated  south  of  the  feed 
room,  where  it  can  be  moved  by  the  aid  of  a  team,  as 
stated  on  a  previous  page.  The  arrangements  for  bury- 
ing grain  indoors  have  also  been  already  described. 
The  ground  is  raised  a  few  inches  by  plowing  in  the  fall, 
where  the  sheds  are  to  be  placed. 

When  the  house  is  placed  upon  the  dust  bin,  B,  waste 
strips  of  cloth,  called  "headings,"  obtained  at  the 
woolen  factories,  are  used  to  make  the  joints  air-tight 
between  the  two.  The  passage  leading  to  the  feed  room 
is  represented  at  (7,  the  feed  room  itself  not  being  shown 
in  the  illustration,  but  given  in  Fig.  11,  as  was  stated. 
A  small  opening,  /),  at  each  end  of  the  house  is  for  ven- 
tilation, and  must  never  be  closed.  A  projecting  cap 


HOUSES   FOR   LAYERS.  4? 

over  it  keeps  out  rain,  and  wire  cloth  of  one-eightli-inch 
mesh  breaks  the  force  of  entering  air  in  case  of  high 
winds,  though  ordinarily  the  current  will  be  outward. 
Fresh  air  is  admitted  through  the  passage,  C,  and  as  it 
must  enter  the  feed  room  through  an  outside  door  in 
the  latter,  and  pass  several  angles  before  gaining  admis- 
sion to  the  roosting  room,  strong  drafts  are  avoided. 
Care  must  be  taken,  during  cold  spells,  to  partially  close 
this  door  at  night,  so  as  to  raise  the  temperature  at  the 
roost  about  twenty  degrees  higher  than  it  is  outside,  but 
further  than  this  no  effort  should  be  made  to  retain 
heat  at  the  risk  of  impure  air.  Fowls  that  have  free 
range  in  the  daytime  the  year  round,  and  roost  in  build- 
ings open  on  all  sides  in  summer,  and  partially  open  in 
spring  and  fall,  will  not  be  injured  by  an  attempt  to 
strike  a  balance  between  warmth  and  ventilation  during 
a  few  brief  periods  of  extreme  cold.  An  artificial  sum- 
mer in  winter,  obtained  by  means  of  a  furnace  and  hot 
water  pipes,  for  laying  stock  and  for  chicks  artificially 
reared,  has  its  uses  in  the  intensive  system,  to  be 
described  further  on,  but  is  dispensed  with  in  the  exten- 
sive or  colonization  plan. 

The  house  for  layers,  summer  arrangement,  is  illus- 
trated in  Fig.  10.  In  this  the  feed  box  is  seen  in  the 
foreground,  and  the  doors  in  both  roofs  of  the  house  are 
propped  up  a  little,  as  in  cases  of  extremely  hot  weather. 
It  will  be  found  that  the  birds  will  seek  the  protection 
of  a  building  thus  arranged,  for  shade,  when  the  heat  is 
severe,  in  preference  to  any  other  place.  In  summer 
the  grain  is  buried  under  a  profuse  allowance  of  straw, 
by  the  use  of  a  horserake  and  hay  tedder,  or  under  the 
soil,  by  means  of  the  tine  and  short-toothed  harrow  or 
the  barbed  wire  drag  used  in  pulverizing  earth  for  gath- 
ering, as  before  mentioned. 

Figure  13  represents  a  house  for  the  earliest  hatched 
pullets  that  are  expected  to  lay  more  in  winter  than  the 


AN    EGG    FARM. 


others,  and  are,  therefore,  sheltered  at  greater  expense. 
Winter  laying  depends  more  on  breed,  age,  feeding  and 
health,  than  upon  warm  rooms.  Heat  is  necessary  to 
productiveness,  but  a  fowl  kept  in  full  vigor  and  good 
appetite  by  exercise  will  be  warm,  where  a  dull,  mopish 
one  would  shiver.  It  will  not  pay  to  build  expensive 
fowl  houses  when  cheap  ones  can  be  used,  and  the 
arrangement  we  are  about  to  describe  involves  as  much 
outlay  as  is  advisable,  in  order  to  secure  warmth,  except- 
ing for  some  special  purposes.  A  mound  of  earth, 


FIG.  13.  HOUSE  FOR  EARLY  HATCHED  PULLETS. 

nearly  circular,  and  25  ft.  broad  at  the  narrowest  point, 
is  raised  by  scraping  with  the  team.  It  should  be  3  1-2 
ft.  high  at  the  center,  and  slope  gradually  to  a  level 
with  the  surface  of  the  field.  Upon  this  mound  a  cellar 
is  dug  7  1-2  ft.  by  14  1-2  ft.,  and  3  ft,  deep,  the  bottom 
being  6  in.  higher  than  the  average  of  the  surface  beyond 
the  mound.  The  cellar  is  walled  substantially  with 
stone,  laid  in  cement,  and  floored  with  the  latter  mate- 
rial. Stations  furnished  with  such  cellars  are  upon  a 
part  of  the  farm  where  there  is  a  gentle  slope,  and, 


HOUSES   FOR   LAYERS.  49 

wherever  necessary,  a  tile  drain  is  put  under  the  founda- 
tion of  the  walls. 

The  floor  of  an  underground  fowl  house  must  always 
be  a  little  higher  than  the  adjoining  field,  not  on  account 
of  drainage  alone,  but  for  ventilation.  No  room  is  fit 
to  be  occupied  by  stock  that  cannot  be  ventilated  at  the 
bottom.  In  this  cellar  the  walled  passage  at  A  admits 
air  within  eight  inches  of  the  floor,  which  is  covered 
with  dry  earth  to  that  depth.  The  walls  are  topped 
with  plank  sills,  upon  the  outer  edges  of  which  the  run- 
ners of  the  itinerant  building  rest,  calking  being 
resorted  to  as  in  the  previous  case.  It  will  not  answer 
to  house  fowls  in  such  a  place  unless  there  is  plenty  of 
glass  above,  and  the  south  roof,  therefore,  contains  five 
long  windows,  instead  of  two  short  ones,  as  in  the  other 
cases,  each  door  being  furnished  with  one.  There  is  a 
shutter,  B,  to  correspond  with  each  window.  Other- 
wise the  house  is  of  the  usual  pattern,  and  the  winter 
sheds  and  feed  room  are  attached  to  it,  though  omitted 
in  the  figure  so  as  to  show  the  embankment  plainer. 
The  house  and  mound  have  a  bleak  look  in  the  illustra- 
tion, but  the  sheds  will  make  the  whole  sheltered  and 
cosy.  In  the  cut,  the  embankment  is  represented  too 
steep.  The  slant  should  be  such  as  to  withstand  heavy 
rains.  The  usual  boarded  passage,  not  shown  in  the 
cut,  connects  the  feed  room  with  the  tunnel  at  A. 
There  are  sunny  days  enough  in  winter  to  keep  the 
earth  bed  inside  perfectly  dry,  and  the  air  will  be  no 
damper  than  in  an  unglazed  apartment  entirely  above 
ground.  Straw  mats  of  the  greenhouse  pattern  are  used 
at  night  upon  the  north  roofs  of  all  the  buildings  in 
winter.  The  amount  of  solar  heat  accumulated  during 
a  clear  winter's  day  in  a  tight  building  roofed  with  glass 
is  surprising,  and  this  is  to  be  retained  as  long  as  possi- 
ble, always  remembering,  however,  to  give  ventilation 
its  due.  Summer  and  winter  the  admission  of  air  must 
4 


50  AN    EGG   FARM. 

be  gauged  by  every  change  of  wind  and  weather.  It  is 
one  of  the  advantages  of  business  upon  a  large  scale, 
that  operations  which  it  would  not  pay  to  attend  to  with 
one  flock,  may  be  afforded  where  there  are  many. 
Unless  the  mats  are  put  on  before  sundown,  and  some- 
tim-es  on  a  mild  day  on  a  part  of  the  windows  at  noon, 
so  much  glass  will  prove  injurious  because  the  fluctua- 
tions in  temperature  will  be  too  violent. 

The  buildings  are  kept  over  the  cellars  only  in  winter, 
and  are  drawn  on  and  off  the  sills  above  the  walls  by  the 
use  of  small  rollers,  and  a  horse  attached  to  tackle.  The 
cellars  must  not  lie  idle  after  the  houses  are  moved,  but 
be  roofed  with  the  platforms  for  drying  earth,  and  a  few 
movable  greenhouse  sashes,  and  used  as  a  shelter  for 
chickens. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

HOUSES   FOR   BREEDERS. 

The  quarters  for  the  'breeding  stock  combine  houses 
very  much  like  those  for  layers,  only  smaller,  and  yards 
made  of  movable  fences.  The  houses  for  layers  are  mov- 
able, with  no  yards  ;  the  houses  for  sitters  are  stationary, 
with  movable  yards ;  and  the  houses  and  yards  for 
breeders  are  both  movable.  The  breeders  are  kept  in 
fives  and  tens,  no  flock  ever  to  exceed  the  latter  number. 
The  buildings  are  of  two  sizes,  one  3  1-2  ft.  wide,  4  ft. 
long,  and  2  1-2  ft.  high  ;  and  the  other  of  the  same 
width  and  night,  and  7  1-2  ft.  long.  There  are  no  run- 
ners, and  the  doors  are  few  in  number,  though  compris- 
ing the  whole  roof ;  each  house,  Fig.  14,  is  furnished 
with  but  one  window,  and  but  two  or  three  nests  are 
necessary,  and  one  perch.  Otherwise  the  houses  are  like 
those  for  layers  on  a  reduced  scale.  They  are  designed 
to  be  moved  by  two  persons,  adjustable  handles  being 
attached  at  either  end  for  this  purpose.  In  this  way, 
being  without  floors,  they  are  shifted  to  different  parts 
of  the  yards,  and  set  on  ridges  of  earth  raised  by  the 
plow.  In  winter,  each  stands  upon  the  edges  of  a  dust 
bin  of  2  in.  by  8  in.  plank. 

The  movable  fences  for  the  yards  of  both  sitters  and 
breeders  are  made  as  follows :  Pickets,  2  in.  wide,  1-2 
in.  thick  and  6  ft.  long,  are  nailed  to  two  rails  3  in. 
square  and  12  ft.  long.  At  both  ends  of  every  rail, 
U-shaped  pieces  of  stout  hogshead  hoop  iron  are  fast- 
ened by  screws  so  as  to  form  staples  through  which 
round  posts,  7  1-2  ft.  long  and  2  1-2  in.  in  diameter, 

51 


52  AN   EGG   FARM. 

pointed  at  both  ends,  are  thrust,  and  set  in  the  ground. 
The  rails  in  the  alternate  sections  are  at  such  distances 
apart  that  the  tops  of  the  pickets  shall  be  in  line,  and  the 
staples  not  interfere  with  those  of  the  adjoining  sections. 
Each  post  is  supported,  so  as  to  resist  the  winds  to  which 
the  fences  expose  so  much  surface,  by  a  brace  upon  the  out- 
side of  the  yard,  Fig.  15.  This  brace  is  made  by  sawing 
a  rail  stick  in  two,  and  furnishing  each  end  with  a  sta- 
ple like  those  upon  the  rails.  The  staples  are  fastened 
upon  the  braces  in  an  obtuse  angle,  and  the  ends  of  the 
braces  are  beveled,  the  better  to  fit  the  posts.  One  of 
these  staples  passes  around  the  post  between  the  two 
staples  of  the  upper  rails,  and  through  the  lower  one, 


FIG.  14.     HOUSE  FOR  BREEDERS. 


which  reaches  to  the  ground,  a  short  stake  is  driven 
into  the  earth,  with  its  top  inclining  away  from  the 
fence,  Fig.  16.  The  spaces  between  the  pickets  are  2  1-2 
in.  wide  for  breeders ;  for  sitters,  which  are  of  a  larger 
breed,  3  in.  are  allowed.  The  pickets  are  nailed  on  the 
yard  side  of  the  rails,  to  prevent  fowls  alighting  on  the 
rails.  The  fences  which  divide  the  breeding  yards  are 
boarded  for  2  ft.  at  the  bottom  to  keep  neighboring 
cocks  from  fighting.  This  boarding  is,  however,  not 
shown  in  the  cut,  neither  is  the  runway  shown,  which, 
as  will  be  described  later,  is  attached  to  the  end  of  each 
yard,  which  is  at  the  rear  in  Fig.  15.  Panels  of  wire 
netting  attached  to  wooden  frames  may  be  used  instead 


HOUSES   FOE   BREEDERS. 


53 


of  pickets,  if  desired,  in  which  case  the  U-shaped  pieces 
of  stout  hoop  iron  should  be  attached  to  the  portions  of 
the  frames  corresponding  to  the  top  and  bottom  rails  of 
the  picket  fence.  The  wire  netting  fence  stands  better 
than  the  picket  fence,  because  it  does  not  take  so  much 
wind  as  the  latter. 

Before  describing  the  runways  for  the  purpose  of 
exercise,  which  are  attached  to  the  yards,  the  latter 
being  so  very  small,  the  absolute  necessity  of  plenty  of 
this  exercise  for  the  choice  selected  breeding  stock  will 
be  enlarged  upon.  Dr.  Holmes,  when  asked  the  age  at 
which  the  education  of  a  child  should  begin,  answered  : 
"A  thousand  years  before  it  is  born."  All  breeding 
animals  must  have  exercise.  Better  breed  strong  stock 


FIG.  15.     YARDS  AND  HOUSES  FOR  BREEDERS. 

in  the  first  place  than  putter  at  doctoring  sick  fowls 
afterwards.  When  breeding  ewes  are  confined  in  close 
quarters  all  winter,  the  lambs  from  them  in  the  spring 
are  born  as  limpsy  as  a  wet  rag.  Said  a  Vermont  raiser 
of  high-class  Merinos  :  "  When  I  induce  my  ewes  to  go 
a  half  mile  or  so  to  a  stack  for  their  hay,  and  in  order  to 
get  their  grain  make  a  journey  back  again,  and  repeat 
this  round  trip  over  and  over,  every  day  all  winter,  their 
lambs  are  born  as  solid  and  firm  as  a  rock."  Even  the 
domesticated  hares  or  rabbits,  which  stand  close  confine- 
ment better  than  any  other  animal,  give  much  stronger 
progeny  if  allowed  room  to  exercise  during  the  breeding 
period  and  previously.  Mr.  Thomas  Wright,  the  great 


54 


AX    EGG    FARM. 


pigeon  authority,  says:  "Nature  designed  the  pigeon 
for  exercise,  and  when  it  is  deprived  of  it  entirely  it 
rarely  lives  many  years  and  never  breeds  well  for  any 
considerable  length  of  time,"  and  adds:  "In  visiting 
lofts  where  the  pigeons  have  flying  privileges,  we  may 
expect  to  see  young-looking  old  birds,  but  if  we  go  where 
the  aviary  affords  but  little  exercise  we  shall  see  old- 
looking  young  birds." 

The  exercise  that  fowls  get  on  a  free  range  is  worth 
more  than  what  they  find  there  to  eat.     As  for  exercise, 

I  in  the  ordinary  poultry  yard  it  is  bet- 
ter than  nothing,  but  it  amounts  to 
but  little  because  the  yard  affords  no 
',  vegetation  and  no  insects  for  them  to 
hunt.  But  poultry  in  confinement, 
even  in  a  very  small  house  and  a  very 
small  yard,  by  means  of  the  apparatus 
we  are  about  to  describe  and  which  is 
attached  to  the  yards  for  breeders, 
take  more  exercise  year  out  and  year 
in  than  they  get  on  the  best  range  in 
the  world,  and  they  are  exceedingly 
contented  and  happy.  Their  feeding 
time  is  all  the  time.  It  is  prolonged 
through  the  whole  day. 
FiGriV.'^iovABLE  Take  two  breeding  flocks  that  are 
FENCE.  exactly  alike  as  regards  breed,  age, 

size,  thrift,  vigor,  and  everything  else.  Give  both 
flocks  the  same  shelter,  and  food  of  the  same  sort 
and  quantity  exactly.  Yard  one  flock  in  the  usual 
manner,  providing  no  incentives  to  exercise  other  than 
the  yard  affords,  it  being,  as  -is  usual,  as  bare  as  the 
middle  of  the  street.  Furnish  the  other  flock  with  exer- 
cising apparatus  and  you  will  get  eggs  for  hatching  pur- 
poses entirely  different  in  character  from  the  eggs  of  the 
other  flock.  The  vitality  of  eggs  under  different  cir- 


HOUSES   FOR   BREEDERS. 


55 


cumstanoes  should  be  well  understood  by  all  who  rear 
poultry.  The  matter  is  well  illustrated  by  plant  life. 
In  the  vegetable  kingdom,  there  are  all 
degrees  of  fertility.  By  this,  we  mean 
that  a  plant  may  bear  some  seeds  that 
are  plump,  containing  the  germs  of  a 
future  generation  of  plants,  and  which, 
if  placed  in  the  earth,  will  germinate 
and  produce  their  kind,  while  there  are 
other  seeds  on  the  same  plant  that  are 
somewhat  shriveled  and  shrunken  and 
will  not  grow,  although  at  first  sight 
they  do  not,  to  any  great  extent,  seem 
inferior  to  the  plumpest  and  best  speci- 
mens, aside  from  their  dried-up  appear- 
ance. At  the  further  end  of  the  series 
there  are  mere  hulls  without  any  vestige 
of  meat  or  kernel  to  give  promise  of  the 
reproduction  of  the  species.  Between  the 
extremes  of  the  empty  hull  and  the 
plumpest  grain  there  is  a  series  embracing 
e"very  gradation.  It  has  been  found  by 
experiment  that  even  if  the  same  con- 
ditions of  soil,  warmth,  and  moisture  are 
present,  some  grains  give  healthy  plants 
which  reach  maturity,  while  others  just 
start  to  grow  a  little  and  then- die  with- 
out making  their  way  to  the  surface  of 
the  soil,  where  they  might  receive  the 
genial  rays  of  the  sun. 

There  is  something  very  much  akin  to 
this  in  the  hatching  of  eggs.  There  are 
some  that  are  perfectly  and  absolutely 
barren  ;  there  are  others  that  are  fertile 
and  capable  of  producing  vigorous  chick- 
ens, and  between  these  extremes  there  is  every  shade  and 


¥./: 


FIG.   17. 


56 


AX    EGG    FARM. 


grade.  Very  often  poultry  men  find  chickens  dead  in  the 
shell.  Some  die  after  the  egg  has  been  sat  upon  eighteen, 
nineteen,  or  twenty  days,  the  chicks  appearing  full  size 
and  ready  to  burst  the  shell ;  some,  however,  die  on  the 
twelfth  or  fifteenth  day,  and  others  on  the  fifth  or  sixth 
day.  In  some  cases,  it  appears  as  though  the  germinal 
speck  just  started  in  its  growth  and  then  was  nipped  in 
the  bud.  When  a  poultry  man  of  an  inquiring  turn  of 
mind  breaks  the  eggs  that  have  failed  to  hatch,  he  finds 
germs  in  every  stage  of  growth,  from  the  first  trace  of 
the  development  of  organization  up  to  the  apparently 
perfectly  formed  chick,  which  looks  as  if  all  it  had  to 


FIG.   18.      STKIKER  FOll  FEED  SHELF. 

do  was  to  break  the  shell  and  be  warmed  and  dried,  in 
order  to  run  around  and  pick  up  its  own  living.  There 
are  very  many  cases  of  arrested  development  and  death 
in  the  shell  at  different  stages  that  cannot  be  attributed 
to  any  treatment  the  eggs  have  received  after  they  were 
put  under  the  sitting  hen  or  into  the  incubator,  for  other 
eggs,  subjected  to  exactly  the  same  influences,  hatched 
and  produced  vigorous  chickens.  Now,  what  is  the  rea- 
son for  all  this?  Surely  is  it  not  the  character  which 
the  egg  itself  received  from  the  hen  that  laid  it  or  the 
sire  that  fertilized  it,  or  both  ?  There  is  such  a  thing 
as  inherited  weakness,  which  may  characterize  an  egg 


HOUSES   FOR   BREEDERS.  57 

before  it  is  laid  and  give  a  tendency  to  the  germ  to  die 
sooner  or  later,  before  it  has  become  fully  developed. 

The  necessity  for  securing  a  high  degree  of  vitality  in 
the  eggs  intended  for  hatching  is  the  more  imperative 
on  account  of  the  abnormal  condition  of  our  domestic 
fowls  as  regards  the  great  numbers  of  eggs  they  lay.  If 
the  hen  steals  her  nest,  lays  there  twelve  or  fifteen  eggs  and 
stops  to  incubate,  these  are  invariably  of  high  vitality. 
By  robbing  nests  daily,  we  force  an  unnatural  number 
of  eggs.  To  counteract  the  tendency  to  weakness  of 
the  germs,  machinery  is  invoked,  although  it  might 
seem  at  first  thought  that  inanimate  mechanical  appa- 
ratus could  have  no  intimate  connection  with  vital 
processes. 

To  secure  exercise  in  the  yards  for  breeders,  Fig.  15, 
runways,  not  shown  in  the  cut,  are  attached  to  the  rear 
of  the  yards.  These  runways  are  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  long  and  two  and  one-half  feet  high,  built  in  mov- 
able sections.  Extending  across,  over  the  tops  of  the 
fences  in  the  breeders'  yards,  Fig.  15,  is  a  continuous 
shelf,  not  shown  in  the  cut,  suspended  over  the  yards 
by  wires  or  cords,  so  that  it  may  swing  freely  endwise. 
It  is  prevented  by  upright  strips  from  swinging  sidewise. 
A  section  of  this  long  shelf  is  represented  in  Fig.  17, 
although  it  should  be  suspended  by  cords  passing  under 
the  shelf  in  loops,  instead  of  passing  through  the  shelf, 
as  in  the  cut.  Grain  is  placed  evenly  the  whole  length 
of  this  long  shelf  and  a  hammer  is  kept  handy  at  one 
end  of  the  shelf.  By  tapping  horizontally  on  the  end, 
the  whole  shelf  is  slightly  jarred,  and  a  very  little  grain 
is  dropped  into  each  yard.  At  the  end  of  the  runways 
farthest  from  the  houses,  these  runways  communicate 
with  another  series  of  small  yards  over  which  is  sus- 
pended another  swinging  shelf  supplied  with  grain. 

To  obviate  the  necessity  of  the  attendant  going  the 
length  of  the  runways  to  operate  this  distant  shelf,  a  ham- 


58  AN    EGG   FARM. 

mer  is  suspended  on  a  pivot  between  two  posts.  This  ham- 
mer is  raised  by  pulling  a  wire,  one  end  of  which  is 
within  the  reach  of  the  operator,  who  stands  at  the  shelf 
near  the  houses  where  the  hand-hammer  is.  One  end  of 
a  short  cord  is  attached  to  the  distant  hammer,  Fig.  18, 
passing  around  two  sash  pulleys,  Fig.  19,  so  as  to  change 
the  pull  from  perpendicular  to  horizontal,  and  the  other 
end  is  attached  to  the  wire  above  mentioned.  One  end 
of  the  shelf  meets  the  blow  of  the  hammer  between  the 
posts.  After  a  little  practice,  a  blow  can  be  given  each 
time  with  just  sufficient  force  to  jar  off  a  little  grain.  If 
predatory  pigeons  or  sparrows  are  feared,  have  wire  net- 
ting attached  to  the  shelf  over  the  grain,  a  few  inches 
above  it.  A  small  bell  may  be  suspended  near  each  shelf 
and  rung  after  the  hammer  stroke,  by  means  of  a  wire 
terminating  at  the  same  point  that  the  hammer  wire 
does,  as  above  described,  so  as  to 
be  within  easy  reach  of  the  attend- 
ant. Spool  wire,  Fig.  102,  is  the 
best.  Fowls  quickly  learn  the 
FIG.  19.  meaning  of  sound  signals,  for,  as 

everybody  knows,  they  may  be  called  by  a  whistle  or  by 
drumming  on  the  feed  pan  or  by  any  sort  of  noise  cus- 
tomarily repeated  at  feed  time.  The  bell  is  not  abso- 
lutely necessary,  for  the  birds  hear  the  hammer  stroke 
and  soon  learn  its  meaning. 

The  breeding  fowls  and  breeding  yards  are  few  in 
number,  and  as  these  fowls  are  very  choice  and  their 
perfect  thrift  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  the  feed 
shelves  are  to  be  jarred  quite  frequently  during  the  day, 
and,  therefore,  the  yards  should  be  located  near  the  feed 
storehouse,  or  the  place  where  the  eggs  are  put  after 
gathering,  or  at  whatever  point  the  attendant  will  pass, 
or  be  at,  the  most  frequently  during  the  day.  Or  the 
hammers  for  both  the  shelves  may  be  pivoted  and  have 
cords  and  wires  attached,  these  last  being  extended  to 


HOUSES   FOR   BREEDERS. 


59 


the  watchman's  house,  Fig.  20,  or  storeroom,  or  other 
permanent  building,  and  operated  by  clockwork  every 
twenty  minutes.  Of  course,  bell  wires  may  also  be 
pulled  by  the  clockwork,  but  this  will  not  be  found 
worth  while ;  for,  as  has  been  said,  the  sound  of  the 
hammer  stroke  will  answer  quite  well  as  a  call,  -although 
when  a  clock  is  not  employed,  calls  are  a  pretty  good 
thing,  since  they  can  be  so  readily  put  up  and  operated. 
Under  each  shelf,  a  pile  of  straw  should  be  kept  to 
make  work  for  the  birds  in  addition  to  the  running 
back  and  forth  which  the  feed  dropping  induces.  One 


FIG.  20.     OFFICE  AND  WATCH  HOUSE. 

great  advantage  of  the  long  runs  is  that  the  birds  will 
make  frequent  trips  of  their  own  accord  to  see  what 
there  is  good  to  eat  at  the  other  end,  the  remembrance 
of  a  series  of  feasts  being  always  vivid  in  their  minds. 
Even  if  bells,  hammers  and  shelves  are  operated  but 
once  every  hour  or  two,  or  only  three  or  four  times 
daily,  the  fowls  will  keep  running  back  and  forth  fre- 
quently. The  difference  between  a  given  amount  of 
ground  space  in  a  yard  of  a  square  form  and  in  one  long 
and  narrow,  as  regards  the  exercise  conferred  respec- 


60  AN    EGG    FARM. 

tively,  is  simply  enormous.  In  a  square  yard,  or  in  one 
which  is,  say,  twice  or  thrice  as  long  as  wide,  the  birds 
will  not  ramble  much.  They  find  that  there  is  nothing 
to  be  gained  and  soon  become  discouraged  and  mope  in 
complete  listlessness.  If  it  were  not  for  the  great 
expense  of  building  material  and  the  difficulty  of  moving 
so  much  fence,  the  yards  could  be  made  10  or  12  ft. 
wide  and  100  or  200  ft.  long,  instead  of  having  runways. 
But  the  low,  covered  hurdles  are  so  handy  and  can  be 
shifted  so  quickly,  to  sweeten  the  ground  by  plow  and 
harrow  every  month,  in  addition  to  the  annual  moving 
to  another  field  entirely,  that  their  invention  was  a  great 
boon  conferred  on  the  poulterer.  The  importance  of 
sweet,  fresh  earth  in  yards  and  runways  cannot  be  too 
strongly  insisted  upon.  The  poultry  man's  nose  and 
inhaling  organs  are  5  ft.  or  so  from  the  ground,  and  he 
does  not  notice  a  taint  in  the  soil,  which  would  be  very 
perceptible  were  he  breathing  as  near  the  ground  as  the 
fowls  are. 

Were  it  not  for  the  careful  breeding,  by  selection  and 
pedigree,  we  would  not  yard  the  breeding  birds  at  all. 
The  disadvantage  of  the  yards  and  runways  such  as 
have  been  described,  is  that  the  straw  on  which  the  grain 
is  dropped  cannot  be  stirred  by  team  and  hay  tedder  and 
horserake.  But,  since  the  breeders'  yards  are  few,  the 
time  taken  in  stirring  the  litter  is  unimportant.  It  will 
be  found  that  the  attendant's  boots  are  handier  than  a 
fork,  if  the  straw  is  comparatively  new  and  unbroken, 
for  he  can  easily  kick  it  loose  several  times  daily,  when 
it  becomes  compacted  under  the  feet  of  the  fowls.  The 
ideal  way  is  to  not  only  drop  grain  upon  straw  by 
mechanical  apparatus,  but  to  stir  the  straw  also  and 
mix  straw  and  grain  together  by  machinery.  This  can 
be  done  to  great  advantage  under  the  intensive  system, 
to  be  described  further  on,  but  as  it  is  desired  to  have 
the  houses  and  yards  for  the  breeding  birds  movable,  for 


HOUSES   FOR   BREEDERS.  61 

putting  the  land  in  crop  every  other  year,  the  shelves 
and  hammers,  which  are  easily  set  up  with  or  without 
bells,  are  all  the  apparatus  with  which  we  would  burden 
the  moving.  In  this  connection,  it  may  be  observed  that 
the  advantage  of  the  low  down  form  of  wagon  for  moving 
fences  and  hurdles  to  a  distant  spot  annually  is  very 
apparent 


CHAPTER  VIT. 

HOUSES   FOR   SITTERS. 

The  stock  used  for  hatching  purposes  is  managed  dif- 
ferently from  the  layers,  and  needs  different  accommo- 
dations. The  houses  for  sitters,  Fig.  21,  are  near  the 
center  of  the  farm,  where  the  granary  and  cook  room 
are  located.  They  accommodate  100  fowls  each,  are  not 
movable,  and  are  set  upon  a  stone  or  brick  underpinning, 
10  in.  high.  They  are  10  ft.  4  in.  from  the  ground  to 
the  peak,  and  20  ft.  long  by  way  of  the  ridge,  and  16  ft, 
wide.  The  roofs  are  shingled,  and  the  ends  of  the 
buildings  covered  with  boards  nailed  upright  and  bat- 
tened. About  one-third  of  the  roof  towards  the  south 
is  glazed,  the  windows  being  partially  darkened  as  warm 
weather  approaches.  The  form  of  these  houses,  like 
that  of  all  in  the  establishment,  with  eaves  near  the 
ground,  is  adapted  to  afford  as  much  ground  room  as 
possible  in  proportion  to  the  lumber  used.  The  roof  of 
each  house  is  crossed  outside  by  a  picket  fence  running 
at  right  angles  with  the  ridge.  This  fence  forms  one 
side  of  the  yard  with  which  each  house  is  furnished, 
and  though  it  extends  only  18  in.  above  the  ridge  of  the 
building,  the  sitters,  not  being  of  a  high-flying  breed, 
will  not  get  over  it.  By  this  arrangement,  exit  is 
afforded  to  the  fowls  and  to  their  keeper  at  either  end 
of  the  building,  into  a  yard  which  is  located  at  either 
end  on  alternate  years.  The  two  ends  of  the  house,  one 
fronting  east  and  the  other  west,  are  both  provided 
exactly  alike  with  doors  and  windows.  The  large  doors 
are  6  1-2x3  ft,  opening  outwards,  and  the  smaller  ones 

62 


HOUSES   FOR   SITTERS. 


63 


attached  to  them  are  7x9  in.  The  windows  are  2x3  ft., 
and  are  hinged,  opening  upwards  for  ventilation.  In 
hot  weather  the  windows  and  doora  in  both  ends  of  the 
building  are  opened  wide,  and  to  prevent  the  fowls 
escaping  at  the  end  where  there  is  no  yard,  wire  netting 
is  fastened  across  the  window  casings  inside,  and  there 
is  an  inside  door  of  the  same  material  hung  to  the  stud, 
to  which  the  outside  door  is  hinged. 

Figure  22  gives  an  interior  view  of  the  house.     There 
are  four  perches,  each  15  ft.  long,  and  of  the  width  and 


FIG.  21.     HOUSE  FOR  SITTERS. 

thickness  of  those  for  layers.  They  are  placed  18  in. 
higher  than  the  top  of  the  underpinning,  those  nearest 
the  nests  being  3  1-2  ft.,  and  those  nearest  the  eaves 
5  1-4  ft.  from  the  center  of  the  building.  A  space  2  1-2 
ft,  wide  at  each  end  of  the  room  is  left  unoccupied  by 
the  perches.  Three  tiers  of  nests  occupy  the  center  of 
the  room,  each  tier  consisting  of  two  rows  placed  back 
to  back,  and  running  in  the  same  direction  as  the 


64 


AN    EGG    FARM. 


perches.  There  are  12  nests  in  each  row,  or  72  in  all, 
and  as  each  nest  is  1  ft.  square  and  1  ft.  high,  they 
occupy  12  ft.  in  length.  This  allows  a  space  of  4  ft.  at 
each  end  of  the  building  between  the  nests  and  the 
doors,  and  as  the  latter  are  planned  of  a  sufficient  width 
to  admit  a  wheelbarrow,  and  the  perches  are  made  so  as 
to  be  easily  moved,  opportunity  is  afforded  to  wheel  in 
or  out  the  dry  earth  which  fills  the  bottom  of  the  room 
halfway  up  to  the  top  of  the  underpinning.  There  are 
nests  enough  so  that  eighteen  hens  may  be  set  at  once, 
and  leave  room  for  fowls  that  are  laying.  The  nests  are 


FIG.  22.     HOUSE  FOR  SITTERS— INTERIOR. 

placed  so  that  the  bottom  of  the  lower  ones  are  G  in. 
higher  than  the  perches,  this  hight  enabling  attendant 
to  avoid  stooping,  as  there  is  much  work  to  be  done 
about  the  nests  of  sitting  hens;  while  they  are  not  so 
high  as  to  prevent  the  fowls  reaching  them  by  flying 
upon  the  nearest  perch,  or  as  to  render  a  ladder  neces- 
sary. The  nests  are  made  so  that  the  hens  enter  them 
at  the  front,  where  a  3  in.  strip  set  edgewise  prevents 
the  eggs  from  tumbling  out.  An  alighting  board  pro- 
jects 2  1-2  in.  in  front  of  each  row  of  nests. 


HOUSES   FOB   SITTERS.  65 

The  partitions  at  the  backs  of  the  nests  are  made  of 
wire  netting,  one-inch  mesh,  to  keep  out  rats,  those  at 
the  sides  of  the  same  and  of  a  two-inch  wire  netting, 
alternately,  for  purposes  described  in  another  place. 
In  this  way  a  circulation  of  air  is  allowed  for  the 
health  of  the  sitters.  Sufficient  attention  is  not  gener- 
ally given  to  this  point.  Fowls  in  a  state  of  nature 
being  accustomed  to  scratch  holes  in  the  ground  under 
bushes,  to  form  their  nests  and  incubate  where  there  is 
plenty  of  air,  pant  and  show  distress  in  hot  weather 
when  forced  to  occupy  close  boxes.  Large  doors  of 
wire  netting,  two-inch  mesh,  not  shown  in  the  illustra- 
tion, prevent  the  fowls  roosting  at  the  entrance  to  the 
nests  at  night.  These  doors  are  closed  after  gathering 
the  eggs  towards  evening,  and  opened  again  the  first 
thing  in  the  morning,  and  are  made  in  two  parts,  fold- 
ing together,  so  that  there  may  be  room  for  them  over- 
head, when  raised.  A  piece  of  rat-proof  netting  is 
placed  in  front  of  a  nest  occupied  by  a  hen  engaged  in 
hatching,  and  fastened  by  buttons,  to  keep  out  laying 
fowls  by  day  and  rats  by  night.  To  keep  the  fowls  from 
using  the  upper  part  of  the  room  as  a  roosting  place, 
wire  netting  or  lath  work,  a  part  of  which  is  shown  in 
the  figure,  extends  from  the  top  of  the  upper  nests  to 
the  roof.  Underneath  the  lower  tier  of  nests  is  placed 
a  feed  box,  made  like  those  with  which  the  houses  for 
layers  are  furnished,  and  others  of  the  same  construction 
should  be  placed  on  the  ground  at  the  ends  of  the 
perches,  and  at  right  angles  with  the  latter.  Five 
houses  for  sitters,  each  with  its  yard,  will  be  required 
for  an  establishment  of  the  size  we  are  describing.  The 
arrangement  of  the  yards  is  shown  by  Fig.  23.  The 
fence,  A  B,  is  made  like  the  buildings,  (7,  non-movable. 
The  fences  on  the  remaining  three  sides  of  the  yards  are 
moved  yearly.  Suppose  that  last  year  the  yards  were 
located  at  E ' ;  then  this  year  they  are  at  D,  and  E  is 
5 


66 


AX    EGG    FARM. 


devoted  to  crops.  A  strip  of  ground  is  left  un  tilled  near 
the  doors  of  the  buildings  for  a  wagon  path.  To  keep 
the  yards  free  from  taint  and  afford  scratching  ground, 
a  part  of  each  is  plowed  occasionally  during  the  season 
when  they  are  occupied  by  the  fowls.  All  the  fences 
running  east  and  west,  as  F  B,  are  composed  of  gates, 
so  that  by  opening,  for  instance,  at  F  G,  through  the 
whole  range  of  yards,  a  strip  of  each  may  be  plowed, 
and  in  a  few  days  the  operation  may  be  repeated  at 
another  part  of  the  yards. 

To  these  yards,  movable  runways,  made  in  sections, 
are  annexed,  not  shown  in  the  ground  plan,  Fig.  23, 


D 


D 


E 


D 


-0- 


E 


FKi.  '23.     PLAN  OF  YARDS  FOR  SITTERS. 

and  these  runways  extend  to  distant  yards,  where  there 
are  feed  shelves,  hammers,  and  so  on,  exactly  like  those 
in  the  yards  for  breeders,  previously  described.  The 
paramount  consideration  is  the  welfare  of  the  sitters 
when  enga.o-ed  in  incubation.  For  the  management  of 
sitters  in  the  buildings  just  described,  see  Chapter  XIV. 

HATCHING    BY    WHOLESALE. 

There  is  a  better  plan  than  the  one  just  described  for 
houses  and  nests  for  silting  hens  in  the  southwest,  where 
the  poultry  business  is  destined,  for  reasons  briefly  stated 


HOUSES    FOR    SITTERS.  67 

in  the  introduction,  and  which  will  be  more  fully  given 
further  on,  to  reach  a  greater  development  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  United  States  or  of  the  world. 

Numerous  unsatisfactory  methods  of  managing  sitters 
on  a  large  scale  have  been  tried.  The  plan  of  confining 
each  m  a  small,  separate  pen,  like  that  shown  in  Fig.  24, 
or  some  modification  thereof,  has  been  weighed  in  the 
balance  and  found  wanting.  It  may  be  occasionally 
tried  to  advantage  by  the  villager,  vvho  keeps  only  a 
dozen  fowls  or  so  and  has  only  a  very  limited  space  for 
them,  but  on  a  large  scale  this  separate  confinement 
plan  will  not  do  at  all,  because  the  sitter  does  not  suffi- 
ciently air  her  plumage,  nest  and  eggs,  and  what  is  of 
still  more  importance,  her  bowels  get  out  of  order  for 
lack  of  exercise,  resulting  in  foul  nests.  This  trouble 
does  not  always-  occur,  it  is  true,  but  it  will  happen  in  a 
sufficiently  large  proportion  of  cases  to  be  very  objec- 
tionable indeed.  No  person  can  long  endure  the  sight 
of  a  lot  of  sitting  hens,  some  badly  out  of  condition,  and 
none  just  right,  if  he  has  a  keen  sense  of  what  is  thrift. 
We  mean  that  instinctive  demand  that  his  charges  shall 
be  in  the  pink  of  condition,  which  distinguishes  the  best 
keepers  in  all  departments  of  livestock  raising,  and  with- 
out which  nobody  can  make  a  good  poultry  man  anyhow. 
Nature  has  provided  that  the  sitter  shall  bustle  around 
at  a  great  rate,  and  race  up  and  down  the  range  as  if 
determined  to  crowd  in  a  half  hour  the  exertion  she 
spread  over  a  whole  day  when  a  laying  fowl.  If  denied 
this  running  exercise,  sitters  are  liable  to  be  afflicted 
with  constipation,  alternating  with  the  other  extreme, 
resulting  in  nests  of  unspeakable  filthiness.  Study 
nature,  and  you  will  find  that  a  sitter  allowed  a  free 
range  never  fouls  her  nest,  and  nobody  has  to  bring  a 
basin  of  warm  water  to  wash  her  eggs.  Any  system  of 
managing  sitters  in  great  numbers  that  calls  for  the 
washing  of  egs;s  and  renovating  filthy  nests,  cannot  com- 


68  AX   EGG   FARM. 

pete  with  incubators.  There  is  another  thing  about  the 
sitting  hen  and  her  stolen  nest.  The  delights  of  liberty 
keep  her  from  returning  to  her  nest  prematurely.  The 
eggs,  and  the  nest  itself,  are  thoroughly  aired  and  puri- 
fied from  exhalations,  and  as  the  sitter  keeps  her  feath- 
ers bristled  nearly  all  the  time,  her  plumage  likewise 
undergoes  as  thorough  a  treatment  as  did  your  mother's 
feather  bed  when  she  used  to  give  it  a  good  sunning. 
The  nest  and  the  feathers  upon  the  eggs  are  sweet  in 
the  case  we  have  supposed,  but  they  never  are  perfectly 
sweet  and  fresh  when  sitters  are  individually  confined  in 
small,  separate  pens  in  rows  or  tiers,  an  abomination  in 
the  sight  of  men  and  angels.  Running  and  flying, 
rather  than  scratching,  are  demanded,  although  all  are 
employed.  There  is  an  intimate  relation  between  exer- 
cise of  the  legs  and  normal  action  of  the  bowels,  this 
being  true  not  only  with  fowls,  but  with  all  other  spe- 
cies of  animals  which  have  locomotion  and  digestion, 
human  kind  included. 

Another  objection  to  separate  rooms  is,  that  if  feed  is 
placed  so  that  the  hen  can  leave  her  nest  to  eat  at  pleas- 
ure, rats  are  baited  to  the  spot,  or  if  each  room  is  made 
rat-proof,  it  will  be  too  expensive.  To  feed  and  water 
individual  birds  in  separate  apartments  takes  much 
time,  and  if  several  are  placed  in  one  room,  they  must 
be  looked  to,  or  two  will  take  to  the  same  nest.  But  if 
surveillance  is  attempted,  it  will  be  handier  to  carry  it 
out  by  placing  many  in  a  large  room. 

Incubator  manufacturers  have  fattened  on  the  short- 
comings of  sitting  hens  under  improper  management, 
but  a  little  ingenuity  will  achieve  a  success  that  will 
vindicate  the  methods  of  mother  nature.  Art  is  at  its 
best  not  when  supplanting  nature's  ways,  but  when 
assisting  them  to  have  free  scope  and  be  glorified.  If  a 
one-hundredth  part  of  the  mechanical  ingenuity  which 
has  been  lavished  on  incubators  during  the  last  thirty 


HOUSES   FOR   SITTERS.  69 

years  had  been  spent  on  contriving  good  methods  of 
managing  sitting  hens,  in  place  of  the  separate  confine- 
ment plan,  there  are  thousands  of  persons  all  over  the 
United  States,  who  have  failed  in  attempts  at  artificial 
incubation,  who  might  have  followed  nature's  method 
with  success.  Incubators  have  their  uses,  but  they  are 
only  for  the  winter  or  to  supplement  sitters.  A  given 
number  of  eggs  can  be  attended  to  under  Plymouth 
Rock  sitting  hens,  and  a  larger  per  cent  of  strong, 
healthy  chickens  hatched  out  than  by  the  use  of  incu- 
bators, and  with  less  labor  of  the  attendant,  the  grain 
for  the  birds  costing  less  than  the  oil  for  the  machines, 
and  the  whole  equipment  of  buildings,  nests,  yards, 
runways  and  fixings,  all  told,  costing  decidedly  less  than 
incubators  of  the  same  egg  capacity  and  the  cellars  to 
contain  them.  The  incubator  idea  has  been  overworked, 
and  the  method  of  nature  underrated.  The  patent  office 
contains  hundreds  of  inventions  for  regulating  heat  in 
incubators,  over  which  persevering  mechanics  have 
racked  their  brains,  but  the  animal  economy  in  a  state 
of  health,  either  in  case  of  man  or  the  sitting  fowl,  reg- 
ulates heat  to  a  marvelous  nicety  that  puts  all  mechan- 
ical devices  to  shame.  Summer  or  winter,  awake  or 
asleep,  whether  we  are  sitting  still  or  at  violent  exercise, 
though  we  may  feel  cold  or  hot  at  times,  yet  the  ther- 
mometer shows  that  the  temperature  of  our  bodies  is 
essentially  invariable,  cases  of  severe  sickness  excepted. 
Then  look  at  the  wonders  of  the  plumage  of  a  fowl.  A 
feather  is  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  nature.  Combining 
strength,  elasticity  and  lightness,  it  is  at  the  same  time 
a  good  non-conductor  of  heat,  it  affords  the  most  perfect 
ventilation,  and,  like  the  fur  of  animals,  it  both  sheds 
rain  and  repels  dirt.  A  mole  burrows  in  the  dirt  and 
remains  as  clean  as  a  coin  fresh  from  the  mint.  It  is 
hard  to  tell  which  is  the  most  marvelous  production  of 
nature,  an  egg  or  a  feather. 


70  AX    EGG    FARM. 

In  undertaking  to  compete  with  artificial  incubation 
and  rearing  and  to  distance  the  artificial  methods,  any 
and  every  kind  of  sitters  must  not  be  employed.  The 
Asiatic  breeds  give  a  gentle  disposition  and  unrivalled 
persistence,  but  the  feathers  on  their  le^s  are  in  the  way. 
The  most  gentle  and  Brahma-like  Plymouth  Rocks  of 
large  size,  selected  for  motherliness  and  for  freedom 
from  the  nervous  activity  and  liability  to  scare  and  fret 
that  some  of  the  smaller  breeds  possess,  are  just  the 
thing.  To  all  intents  and  purposes,  they  are  Light 
Brahmas,  with  their  excessive  size  and  the  black  of  the 
plumage  and  the  leg  and  toe  feathering  bred  out.  and 
length  of  wing  and  a  certain  lightness  of  movement,  the 
reverse  of  the  Brahma  clumsiness  and  awkwardness, 
bred  in.  A  hen  of  the  improved  breed  of  sitters  can 
cover  from  sixteen  to  twenty  eggs,  according  to  the 
season. 

Some  persons  have  objected  to  the  cost  of  the  feed  for 
sitting  hens  while  they  are  incubating.  It  is  not  lost. 
They  need  a  rest  from  laying,  anyhow,  and  lay  the  bet- 
ter for  it.  If  they  do  not  Jay  at  one  time  of  the  year, 
they  will  make  up  for  it  at  another.  While  at  a  resting 
spell  they  would  have  to  be  fed,  whether  sitting  or  not, 
but  the  expense  of  heating  incubators  is  a  dead  weight. 
Among  other  advantages  of  the  natural  system,  an 
important  one  is  that  it  does  not  demand  so  high  priced 
a  man  as  the  artificial  system  does.  The  first  is  easy, 
the  last  is  comparatively  difficult  and  keeps  the  attend- 
ant on  a  rack  and  strain  more  or  less,  that  must  be  paid 
for;  or  if  he  is  a  master  of  the  art  and  so  has  little 
anxiety,  then  the  time  he  spent  in  becoming  a  master  of 
the  art  must  be  paid  for.  But,  if  you  have  the  proper 
conveniences,  calm  as  a  May  morning  you  can  attend 
sitters,  not  by  the  hundreds,  but  by  the  thousands,  with 
not  a  care  in  the  world.  Their  temperature  will  always 
be  correct. 


HOUSES   FOR   SITTERS.  71 

It  is  essential  to  have  complete  control  of  the  sitters 
and  of  their  nests,  and  the  attendance  at  every  stage 
must  be  performed  well,  quickly  and  with  ease.  No 
operation  must  be  awkward  or  at  a  disadvantage,  if  nat- 
ural hatching  on  a  large  scale  is  to  be  made  to  beat 
hatching  by  machine.  The  maxim  must  be  kept  in 
mind,  that  whenever  a  tiling  is  to  be  repeated  hundreds 
of  times  and  often,  a  saving  of  a  second,  and  also  avoid- 
ing a  cramped  or  laborious  position  of  the  worker,  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  in  lessening  expense. 

Inconvenience  costs  money  ;  not  only  is  wear  of  mus- 
cles to  be  saved,  but  wear  and  tear  of  brain  and  patience. 
It  takes  too  much  mental  steam  to  run  incubators  and 
brooders,  as  compared  with  sitters  and  brooding  hens. 
Nature  has,  as  we  have  said,  regulated  the  heat  of  the 
latter  perfectly,  and  made  most  exquisite  provisions  for 
ventilation  and  moisture — natural  provisions  not  prop- 
erly appreciated  by  poultry  men  during  the  incubator 
craze.  Incubators  are  at  their  best  in  the  winter  broiler 
business,  and  as  adjuncts  to  early  spring  hatching  under 
hens  in  sections  of  country  where  winter  is  prone  to  lin- 
ger in  the  lap  of  spring.  But  the  millions  of  tons  of 
poultry  to  be  needed  in  the  great  future  will  be  raised, 
dressed  and  shipped,  both  with  and  without  cold  stor- 
age, where  the  winters  are  so  short  and  mild  as  to  be 
reckoned  with  but  slightly, — raised  just  a  little  to  the 
south  of  where  the  bulk  of  the  cattle,  sheep  and  swine 
are  now  fattened.  Just  where  the  great  district  of  the 
cheapest  grain  in  the  world  touches  another  district 
where  mild  winters  prevail,  which  are  of  much  greater 
importance  for  poultry  than  for  beef,  pork  and  mutton 
production,  and  where  natural  incubation  is  at  its  best. 

A  man  can  work  more  hours  each  day,  and  have 
greater  peace  of  mind  and  live  longer  on  earth,  if  he 
attends  to  natural  incubation  and  rearing  when  he  has 
the  very  best  conveniences  for  it,  as  compared  with  the 


72  AX    EGG    FARM. 

person  running  the  very  best  incubators  and  brooders  in 
the  world  under  the  mental  tension  and  watchfulness 
their  successful  use  implies.  Tending  sitters  in  great 
numbers,  unless  with  conveniences,,  is,  however,  an 
abomination.  Any  plan  of  managing  them  that  places 
the  operator  at  the  mercy  of  their  whims  and  cranks, 
and  the  liability  of  their  lice  and  uncleanliness,  makes 
his  task  irksome  in  the  extreme,  and  costs  in  dollars  and 
cents.  They  have  certain  traits  and  habits,  however, 
which  we  can  rely  upon  and  turn  to  our  advantage. 
Nature  has  placed  within  our  reach  vital  machinery  of 
such  wonderful  precision  that  nothing  man  can  make 
will  ever  rival  it. 

Hatch  chicks  artificially  and  rear  them  in  brooders, 
where  location  demands,  and  market  them  in  ninety 
days  from  the  shell,  and  besides,  use  the  incubators,  if 
you  choose,  to  supplement  sitters,  but  never  rear  a  bird 
to  keep  to  adult  age  for  a  sitter,  or  to  exhibit,  or  for  a 
breeder,  except  under  a  good,  motherly  hen.  The  egg 
must,  in  the  first  place,  be  laid  by  a  fowl  kept  under 
sanitary  conditions  that  were  perfect,  and  during  incu- 
bation be  surrounded  by  air  much  better  and  purer  than 
that  in  incubators  averages;  and  then,  while  the  chicks 
are  getting  their  growth,  they  should  never  see  a  fence, 
but  have  the  use  of  as  much  of  the  United  States  as 
they  choose  to  travel  over.  Pullets  thus  hatched  and 
reared,  and  from  an  ancestry  thus  hatched  and  reared 
for  several  generations,  will  have  constitutions  that  will 
stand  forcing  (to  get  eggs  for  food  purposes  only),  and 
can  be  put  through  the  severest  ordeal  of  rich  and  stim- 
ulating diet  for  a  year  after  completing  their  growth, 
when  they  should  be  killed  and  their  places  given  to 
new  recruits.  The  colt  reared  in  the  green  pastures  and 
beside  the  still  waters,  and  from  a  country-bred  sire  and 
dam,  you  can  take  at  its  maturity  to  toil  in  the  city 
streets.  You  are  trading  on  the  vitality  stored  up  by 


HOUSES   FOR   SITTERS.  73 

the  animal  in  its  youth,  and  on  that  which  was  accumu- 
lated by  dam  and  sire  and  great-great-grandsire.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  city  would  be  a  poor  place  in 
which  to  raise  colts. 

The  successful  business  men  of  our  large  towns  were 
nearly  all  country  reared  and  descended  from  country 
bred  ancestry.  They  go  to  the  city  with  a  full  head  of 
vitality  it  has  taken  generations  to  accumulate.  The 
artificial  life  dissipates  vitality,  it  does  not  accumulate 
it,  although  it  may  sometimes  accumulate  money.  No 
large  city  perpetuates  its  own  number  of  inhabitants. 
It  would  become  depopulated  were  it  not  for  recruits 
from  the  country.  The  blooded  fowls,  or  their  eggs  for 
hatching,  bought  and  sold  and  disseminated  by  millions 
all  over  the  world,  would  leave  descendants  more  plenty 
than  blackberries,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  not  only 
are  incubators  and  brooders  used  considerably,  but  both 
sellers  and  buyers  are  prone  to  stive  the  highly  prized 
birds  up  in  such  close  quarters,  and  subject  them  to  so 
many  other  unnatural  conditions,  that  they  peter  out 
after  awhile.  Trace  the  history  of  dozens  of  importa- 
tions of  choice  poultry  brought  into  your  neighborhood, 
good  reader,  within  your  remembrance.  Ask  what  has 
become  of  them.  The  answer  will  be,  in  a  large  propor- 
tion, of  cases,  "they  all  ran  out." 


CHAPTER   V1I1. 

FOR    SITTERS    IN    MILD    CLIMATES. 

According  to  the  best  method  of  managing  sitters  in 
the  region  of  mild  winters,  from  which  the  bulk  of  poul- 
try products  is  to  come  eventually,  the  house  for  sitters 
needs  no  glazing  and  no  siding,  or  very  little  siding, 
but  should  have  a  good,  tight,  shingled  roof  to  keep  off 
rain.  In  the  belt  of  country  where  the  trainloads  and 
shiploads  of  poultry,  necessary  to  supply  in  the  future 
not  a  hundred  millions,  but  hundreds  of  millions,  of  our 
own  people,  and  foreign  lands  as  well,  can  be  raised 
most  profitably,  the  climate  permits  poultry  to  roost  in 
trees  the  year  round  and  do  quite  well,  as  has  been 
demonstrated  for  a  century. 

In  such  a  climate,  with  an  enormous  tract  of  prairie 
joining  it  on  the  north,  affording  a  supply  incalculable 
in  quantity  of  the  cheapest  grain  on  earth,  the  cost  of 
producing  poultry  products  is  at  the  very  minimum,  and 
even  with  cost  of  transportation  added,  it  is  still  at  the 
minimum.  In  the  redistribution  of  industries,  com- 
pelled by  the  laws  of  business  competition — laws  as  irre- 
sistible as  the  attraction  of  gravitation — a  commodity 
will  always  be  produced,  in  the  long  run,  at  exactly  the 
most  advantageous  point.  Therefore,  at  Kansas  City, 
or  not  more  than  a  hundred  or  a  few  hundred  miles 
away,  will  be  shipped  yearly  thousands  of  tons  of  poul- 
try, alive  or  dressed,  refrigerated,  frozen,  or  canned. 

The  buildings  in  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma  will  need 
next  to  no  siding  at  all,  but  in  southern  Kansas  there 
should  be  hinged  or  folding  sides  to  be  let  down  in  win- 

74 


FOR    SITTERS    IN    MILD 


ter.  To  protect  against  heat  in  our  model  house  for 
sitters  at  the  southwest,  a  tight,  level  floor  should 
extend  from  plate  to  plate,  making  an  air  chamber  of 
all  the  space  in  the  building  above  the  posts.  This  floor 
may  consist  of  matched  stuif  or  of  straight  edged  boards, 
reinforced  by  building  paper.  The  roof  gets  hot  and 
this  air  chamber  protects  the  fowls,  and  their  attendant 
also.  A  shutter  of  liberal  dimensions,  in  each  gable 
near  the  peak,  governed  by  cords,  must  be  kept  open  in 
summer,  to  permit  the  heated  air  to  escape,  but  it  must 
not  be  allowed  to  escape  in  winter,  as  it  serves  a  useful 
purpose  during  the  cool  nights. 

The  length  of  the  building  is  155  ft.,  144  ft.  of  which 
are  in  the  hatching  room.  The  width  is  11 1-2  ft., 
width  of  central  alley,  2  1-2  ft.  Measurements  in  the 
direction  across  the  alley  arc  as  follows  :  Nest,  1  1-3  ft. ; 
treadle,  1  2-3  ft. ;  feeding  space,  1  1-2  ft.  The  roof  is 
double,  that  is,  it  slants  down  from  the  ridge  in  two 
directions.  An  alley  for  the  attendant  is  dug  in  the 
ground,  lengthwise  of  the  building,  in  the  center,  2  1-2 
ft.  deep  and  stoned  or  bricked  at  the  sides.  The  build- 
ing is  double,  there  being  nests,  treadles,  and  a  feed 
space  each  side  of  the  alley.  Immediately  adjoining  the 
alley  on  each  side  is  a  row  of  nests  at  the  bottom  of  the 
fowl  house  proper,  thus  they  will  be  2  1-2  ft.  above  where 
the  attendant  stands.  The  place  where  work  is  to  be 
done  should  be  of  this  convenient  hight,  for  the  same 
reason  that  a  store  counter  or  a  work  bench  stands  above 
the  floor.  It  was  a  big  mistake  to  locate  nests,  brooders, 
etc.,  on  a  level  with  the  poultry  keeper's  feet,  as  has  been 
done  all  over  the  United  States. 

A  car  runs  the  whole  length  of  the  building  on  a  rail- 
road in  the  alley,  twenty  inches  above  the  bottom  of  the 
alley,  the  rails  being  held  by  supports  fixed  in  the  walls. 
As  ease  and  dispatch  in  certain  portions  of  the  work 
depend  on  this  transportation  feature,  the  rails  and  the 


76 


AN    EGG   FARM. 


car  must  be  of  the  best,  so  that  the  latter  may  be  moved 
at  a  touch.  A  wheelbarrow  is  sometimes  used  in  a  poul- 
try house  alley,  but  it  is  a  nuisance,  because,  among 
other  objections,  two  hands  are  used  in  propelling  it, 
but  a  car  can  be  pushed  by  one  hand,  or  by  the  attend- 
ant's body,  leaving  both  his  hands  free.  The  best  way 
is  as  good  as  any  other  way.  The  car  is  provided  with 
conveniences  the  most  handy  that  can  possibly  be  con- 
trived for  transporting  the  fresh,  moist  earth  used  in  the 
nests  of  sitters,  also  eggs  and,  on  occasion,  mother  hens 
with  their  broods  of  newly  hatched  chicks. 

The   laying    hens,    destined    for    sitting  when    they 
become  broody,  must  occupy  the  same  building  as  those 


FIG.  24.     COOP  FOR  SINGLE  SITTER. 

actually  sitting,  because  it  takes  time  to  move  sitters 
from  place  to  place.  A  sitter  incubates  in  the  same 
nest  she  used  while  laying.  To  keep  laying  birds  from 
access  to  nests  of  sitters  a  trap  system  is  employed,  each 
sitter  shutting  herself  in.  In  other  words,  when  the 
sitter  is  off  her  nest  the  trap  is  set,  and  when  she  goes 
on  it  is  sprung  and  she  is  a  prisoner.  The  construction 
of  these  traps  will  be  described  in  detail,  because  they 
are  the  controlling  feature  of  the  system  of  management, 
with  reference  to  which  all  the  rest  is  contrived.  By 
but  little  more  than  a  simple  turn  of  the  wrist,  the 
attendant  can  perform  many  of  the  most  important 


FOR    SITTERS   IN    MILD    CLIMATES.  77 

operations  about  the  nests,  from  either  end  of  a  building 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  without  going  down 
the  alley. 

Figure  25  shows  the  operation  of  a  treadle,  T,  at  the  bot- 
tom of  one  of  the  separate  passages,  leading  to  a  separate 
nest,  this  treadle  being  operated  by  the  weight  of  the 
hen,  which  releases  a  figure  4  catch  and  closes  the  pas- 
sage door,  thus  confining  her  and  shutting  laying  fowls 
out.  In  this  cut,  the  sides  and  top  of  the  nest  and  of 


FIG.  25.      APPARATUS  FOR  SITTERS. 

the  passage  leading  to  the  nest,  and  other  things  in  the 
vicinity  are  omitted ;  the  purpose  being  merely  to  show 
how  the  hen  shuts  herself  in.  The  treadle,  T,  eleven 
inches  wide,  or  just  enough  scant  to  play  freely  in  an 
eleven-inch  space,  and  twenty  inches  long,  forms  the 
bottom  of  the  passage,  which  is  large  enough  to  admit  a 
fowl  and  allow  her  access  to  the  nest,  b.  In  this  cut,  an 
edge  view  is  given  of  the  door,  7^,  pivoted  at  n,  and  raised 
by  the  cord,  a\  which  passes  over  the  pulley,  p. 


78  AN   EGG   FARM. 

Attached  to  the  door  is  the  door  lever,  k,  this  lever 
being  held  down  by  a  figure  4  catch.  This  we  call  the 
first  position  of  the  door.  The  hen  enters  on  the  treadle 
at  T  and  walks  toward  the  nest  at  ft.  The  treadle,  being 
moved  downward  by  her  weight,  turns  on  the  pivot,  v  v, 
which  has  bearings  on  the  side  of  the  passage  not  shown 
in  this  cut.  To  the  treadle  is  attached  a  rod,  jointed  at 
t  and  pivoted  at  e  and  at  x.  When  x  moves  downward, 
as  indicated  by  the  arrow,  the  motions  of  the  other  parts 


FIG.  26.     APPARATUS    FOR    SITTERS. 

are  also  in  the  directions  of  the  arrows,  t  going  down- 
ward and  toward  the  right  and  the  figure  4  toward  the 
left,  releasing  the  door  lever,  and  causing  the  door,  h1, 
to  fall  by  its  own  weight  and  close  the  passage.  When 
the  door  is  shut,  it  is  in  the  second  position,  and  it 
stands,  not  perpendicularly,  but  on  a  slant,  as  shown  at 
h2,  Fig.  26.  In  this  cut,  the  top  and  one  side  of  the 
passage  and  nest  are  shown,  which,  of  course,  hide  the 


FOR    SITTERS    IX    MILD    CLIMATES.  79 

treadle  rod,  but  Fig.  20,  being  designed  only  to  show  the 
working,  is  not  an  exact  representation  of  the  nest  and 
the  passage  to  the  nest,  there  being  in  reality  a  liberal 
employment  of  wirework  in  top  and  sides  of  these  for 
the  sake  of  air. 

Now,  as  there  are  144  nests  in  a  horizontal  row  or 
tier,  each  with  its  passage,  door,  treadle,  and  other 
parts;  to  set  all  these  traps  by  hand,  in  other  words,  to 
go  through  the  alley  and  depress  each  door-bar  singly  to 
make  each  engage  with  its  catch,  would  take  too  much 
time.  A  trap-setter  must  be  employed  to  set  them  all 
at  once,  or  as  many  as  are  in  use  for  hatching  purposes. 
An  iron  shaft,  I,  in  Fig.  25,  and  also  /  in  Fig.  26,  con- 
sisting of  a  common  3-4  in.  water  pipe,  extends  the 
whole  length  of  the  row  of  nests,  a  transverse  section  of 
tins  shaft  being  shown  also  at  I,  Fig.  29.  The  shaft  has 
bearings  made  by  driving  staples  into  a  2x6  stick, 
attached  immovably  to  the  building.  To  the  shaft,  at 
intervals  of  1  ft.,  corresponding  to  the  width  of  the 
nests,  are  attached  arms  of  large  wire,  each  11  in.  long, 
with  a  loop  or  an  eye  in  the  end  farthest  from  the  shaft, 
as  at  1  in  Fig.  25,  to  which  the  cord,  a1,  is  fastened,  a 
small  snap  hook  being  tied  permanently  to  the  cord  and 
snapped  into  the  eye.  This  cord  passes  over  the  pulley, 
p,  and  is  fastened  to  the  door,  7i.  It  will  be  readily  seen 
that  when  the  shaft,  ?,  has  been  turned,  ty  means  of  a 
lever  at  either  end  of  the  building,  operated  by  the  atten- 
dant, so  as  to  throw  the  arm  to  the  point  1,  as  shown  in 
Fig.  25,  the  door  is  raised  to  the  first  position  (and,  of 
course,  all  the  doors  in  the  tier,  attached  by  cords  in  the 
same  way,  are  brought  to  the  first  position)  and  all  the 
sitters  are  able  to  enter  the  nests,  their  daily  run  out  of 
doors  being  finished.  Having  set  all  the  traps,  the  shaft 
is  turned  to  bring  the  arm  to  the  point  2,  so  that  the 
cords  may  be  slack,  permitting  each  hen  to  drop  her 
own  door. 


80  AN    EGG    FARM. 

The  doorway  to  the  door  is  narrowed  by  tacking  on 
strips  of  wood,  according  to  the  average  size  of  the  birds, 
so  that  two  hens  cannot  enter  abreast.  One  or  two  split 
shot,  such  as  are  sold  to  anglers  for  sinkers,  are  attached 
to  the  cord  near  the  center,  so  as  to  take  up  the  slack 
and  keep  the  cord  slightly  taut  over  the  pulley,  p,  while 
waiting  for  the  hen  to  drop  her  door.  Treadles  should 
be  made  of  three-eighths  or  one-half  inch  boards,  so  as 
to  be  quite  light,  and  hung  so  that  the  end  nearest  the 
door  will  be  merely  heavy  enough  to  overcome  the  fric- 
tion of  its  pivots  and  of  the  joint  and  pivot  of  the  rod, 
so  as  to  keep  the  door  end  of  the  treadle  down  at  all 
times,  excepting  when  the  trap  is  being  either  set  or 
sprung. 

When,  the  next  day  toward  night,  it  is  desired  to  open 
all  the  doors  to  liberate  the  sitters,  the  shaft,  /,  is  turned 
so  as  to  move  the  arms  to  the  point  3  and  the  doors  to 
the  point  k3,  called  the  third  position  ;  they  being  lifted 
not  quite  as  high  as  the  first  position,  but  high  enough 
to  let  the  birds  pass  out.  When  the  sitters  are  all  out, 
turn  the  shaft  back  to  2,  to  put  the  doors  in  the  second 
position, — that  is,  they  will  be  closed  so  that  none  of  the 
birds  can  return  to  their  nests  prematurely ;  for  over- 
zealous  sitters  are  prone  to  air  the  eggs  too  little,  and 
to  not  spend  sufficient  time  in  dusting  themselves,  exer- 
cising, eating  and  drinking.  After  an  interval  of  five 
or  ten  minutes  or  an  hour  or  more,  according  to  the 
weather,  the  trap-setter,  /,  is  again  employed  as  pre- 
viously described,  to  bring  the  door  bars  into  the  keep- 
ing of  the  figure  4's,  so  that  the  doors  will  be  in  the  first 
position. 

Now  there  are  one  hundred  and  forty-four  nests  in  one 
row  and  only  one  hundred  or  less  of  these  are  to  be  used 
at  one  time  by  sitters,  leaving  forty-four  or  more  to  be 
used  by  the  laying  fowls,  which  occupy  the  same  build- 
ing. When  a  nest  is  no  longer  needed  for  a  sitter,  and 


FOR    SITTERS    IN    MILD    CLIMATES.  81 

is  renovated  and  prepared  for  the  use  of  the  layers,  the 
snap  hook  is  detached  from  the  eye  and  attached 
to  a  similar  eye  at  the  end  of  an  arm  belonging  to  a 
shaft,  m,  which  is  the  duplicate  of  the  shaft  I,  and  which 
operates  as  the  latter  does,  only  it  is  never  used  to  bring 
doors  to  the  first  position.  The  shaft,  m,  is  to  put  the 
doors  leading  to  layers'  nests  into  the  second  position 
(closed)  before  liberating  the  sitters,  this  precaution 
being  necessary  to  prevent  sitters  from  blundering  into 
the  nests  of  layers.  As  before  remarked,  the  sitters  are 
let  out  toward  night,  the  layers  having  finished  business 
for  the  day. 

The  distances  the  shafts  m  and  I  are,  respectively, 
from  the  point  where  the  cord  is  attached  to  the  door, 
h,  must  have  careful  attention  ;  m  can  be  the  nearest  to 
the  alley  and  I  the  highest,  and  both  must  be  so  placed 
that  the  cord  will  exactly  reach  from  arm  2,  on  both 
shafts,  to  the  door,  when  these  arms  are  at  the  second 
position.  Then  the  first  and  third  positions  will  take 
care  of  themselves,  and  the  length  of  cord  having  been 
once  fixed  upon  need  never  be  changed.  The  cords  are 
small  and  may  be  the  best  quality  cotton  shoe  string,  or 
other  stout,  non-stretchable  material.  Bore  a  three- 
sixteenth  inch  hole,  slantingwise,  through  h,  in  which 
insert  a  homemade  affair  like  a  violin  peg  to  attach  the 
cord  to,  so  that  by  turning  the  peg  you  can  wind  or 
unwind  the  cord  and  it  may  be  readily  brought  to  the 
exact  length  necessary  to  completely  close  the  doors  and 
also  operate  the  figure  4's  with  precision. 

When  you  arrive  on  the  scene,  the  sitters'  doors  are 
supposed  to  be  at  the  second  position  (closed)  and  the 
layers'  doors  at  third  position  (nearly  full  open).  The 
order  then  proceeds  as  follows  :  Layers'  doors,  you  throw 
to  second  position  (closed)  ;  sitters'  doors,  immediately 
to  third  position  (nearly  full  open) ;  after  a  short  inter- 
val, sitters'  second  position  (closed) ;  after  a  longer 


EGG    FARM. 


FOlt    SITTERS    IX    MILD    CLIMATES.  83 

interval,  sitters'  first  position  (wide  open  and  traps  set). 
Finally,  after  a  still  longer  interval,  the  layers'  nests  to 
third  position  (nearly  full  open)  and  then  everything  to 
remain  till  the  next  afternoon.  The  whole  program  is 
elsewhere  more  fully  described. 

We  now  invite  attention  to  Fig.  27,  which  is  a  ground 
plan  of  the  hatching  house  with  its  yards  attached ;  it 
being  an  equivalent  of  an  incubator  cellar  and  an  equip- 
ment of  10  incubators  of  300  egg  capacity  each,  though 


FIG.  28.      SECTION  OF  COVERED    YARD. 

it  costs  much  less  and  turns  out  more  and  better  chicks, 
with  more  certainty  and  less  work.  Y,  Y represent  large 
yards  and  y,  y,  y,  y  small  yards.  The  building  is  11  1-2 
ft.  wide  and  155  ft.  long,  or  144  ft.  exclusive  of  the 
rooms,  m,  at  the  ends,  but  the  length  is  very  materially 
reduced  in  the  cut  to  give  space  to  show  details  plainly. 
The  small  yards,  5  1-2  ft.  wide,  are  roofed  over  for  pro- 
tection against  sun  and  rain,  but  there  is  no  air  chamber. 


AX    EGG    FARM. 


A  transverse  section  of  one  of  these  covered  yards  is 
shown  in  Fig.  28.     In  botli  Fig.  27  and  28,  the  small 


FIG.  29.      INTERIOR  OF  HATCHING  HOUSE. 

crosses  represent  wire  fences.  In  Fig.  27,  the  rooms, 
m,  m,  are  where  the  operator  stands  to  work  the  trap- 
setter  and  to  control  the  layers'  nests  also,  as  mentioned 


FOE   SITTERS   IN   MILD   CLIMATES.  85 

in  the  description  of  Fig.  25,  and  to  operate  the  feed 
shelves,  six  in  all,  which  are  suspended  in  the  main 
building  and  in  the  small  yards  over  the  dotted  lines  in 
the  cut.  The  construction  and  working  of  these  shelves 
is  explained  elsewhere.  See  Figs.  17  and  18.  A  trans- 
verse section  of  one  of  the  shelves  hung  up  in  the  main 
building  is  shown  at  J,  Fig.  29.  See  description  of 
various  modifications  of  feed  shelves,  the  simplest  being 
the  best.  In  Fig.  27,  the  long,  narrow  space,  a,  is  occu- 
pied by  nests  and  c  by  nest  passages,  both  being  of  the 
kind  previously  described.  A  few  of  the  nests  are  shown 
divided  off  in  the  cut  at  b  and  a  few  of  the  nest  passages 
are  divided  off  at  T.  Compare  Tin  Fig.  27  with  Tin 
Fig.  25  and  with  Tin  Fig.  29,  keeping  in  mind  that  the 
floor  of  each  nest  passage  consists  of  a  treadle.  The 
alley,  x,  for  the  attendant,  previously  described,  being 
sunk  2  1-2  ft.  below  the  ground,  the  end  rooms,  m,  m, 
are  also  excavated  to  the  same  depth  for  better  con- 
venience, and  steps  outside  the  building  near  the  out- 
side doors,  h,  Tiy  lead  from  the  ground  level  to  the  con- 
tinuous pit  or  shallow  cellar,  m  x  m.  At  each  end  of 
the  long  alley  and  near  the  door,  h,  a  small  ell  or  pro- 
jection will  be  seen,  attached  to  the  main  building.  The 
railroad  extends  into  these  ells,  which  are  just  large 
enough  and  high  enough  to  hold  the  car,  so  that  it  will 
be  out  of  the  way  when  not  in  use.  A  section  of  the 
railroad  track  four  feet  long,  situated  between'  the  ell 
and  where  the  row  of  nests  begins,  is  movable,  that  is,  a 
piece  of  each  rail  is  hinged  at  one  end  and  can  be  turned 
up  out  of  the  way  when  railroad  and  car  are  not  needed. 
Gates,  to  permit  fowls  to  pass  from  J^to  y,  are  shown 
at  G,  G,  G,  G.  Figure  30  illustrates  one  of  these  gates,  G, 
made  of  wire  netting,  attached  to  a  light  wooden  frame, 
and  G  in  Fig.  28  shows  a  gate  in  a  perpendicular  posi- 
tion and  also,  by  means  of  dotted  lines,  a  horizontal 
position.  The  yard,  y,  in  Fig.  28,  is  roofed  over.  As 


86  AN   EGG   FARM. 

there  are  four  small  yards,  there  are,  of  course,  sixteen 
gates  in  all,  each  being  two  by  two  feet.  The  four  gates 
of  each  group,  G,  G,  Gf,  G,  are  opened  and  closed  as  one 
gate,  by  means  of  a  wire,  starting  from  one  operating 
room,  m,  and  running  the  whole  length  of  the  main 
building  to  the  opposite  operating  room.  The  farthest 
gate  in  a  group  is  thirty-three  feet  from  the  main  build- 
ing. The  gates  are  pivoted,  transom  fashion,  and  are 
perpendicular  when  closed,  as  at  G  in  Fig.  30  and  at  G 
in  Fig.  28,  and  horizontal  while  open.  They  have  a 
common  pivot,  consisting  of  a  shaft  of  iron  pipe,  to 
which  they  are  fastened  in  such  fashion  that  they  turn 


D 


FIG.  30.   GATK  FOK  COVKKKD  YARDS. 

with  it,  not  on  it.  The  shaft  extends  into  the  operating 
room  a  few  inches,  where  is  attached  a  strong  spoke  or 
arm,  three  feet  long,  and  to  this  arm  is  fastened  the 
wire  above  described.  By  taking  hold  of  the  arm  itself, 
if  you  are  at  the  nearest  room,  or  by  means  of  the  wire 
if  you  are  at  the  distant  room,  the  shaft  is  caused  to 
make  one-quarter  of  a  complete  revolution,  which  is  all 
that  is  required  to  open  the  gates.  They  are  made  so  as 
to  close  by  gravity  when  released,  and  when  shut  they 
come  to  rest  over  the  bottom  fence  rail,  D.  A  board, 
B,  runs  the  whole  length  of  yard,  y,  and  rests  on  the 
gates.  See  B  in  Fig.  30,  and  compare  with  the  trans- 


FOE   SITTERS    IN"    MILD    CLIMATES.  87 

verse  section  of  B,  Fig.  28.  When  the  gate  is  open, 
this  board  is  at  the  position  shown  by  the  dotted  lines  in 
Fig.  28,  and  the  feed  dropping  from  the  shelf,  S, 
will  land  at  A,  but  when  the  gate  is  closed  this  board, 
being  in  another  position  under  the  feed  shelf,  intercepts 
the  falling  grain,  causing  it  to  reach  the  ground  at  D, 
in  the  big  yard  instead  of  in  the  small  one. 

Now,  as  heretofore  mentioned,  the  layers  of  the  sit- 
ting breed  and  the  sitters  actually  sitting,  occupy  the 
same  building.  The  layers  are  allowed  the  freedom  of 
one  large  yard,  Y,  and  two  small  yards,  y,  during  the 
day,  the  four  gates,  6r,  being  kept  open  all  the  time, 
excepting  during  the  latter  part  of  the  afternoon.  Wire 
netting  is  stretched  so  as  to  prevent  the  birds  from  get- 
ting at  the  feed  shelf.  The  latter  being  only  two  and 
one-half  feet  from  the  ground,  it  is  conveniently  reached 
by  the  attendant,  who  passes  the  whole  length  of  the 
covered  yard  each  day  to  load  the  shelf.  At  intervals, 
during  the  day,  whenever  he  is  in  either  room,  m,  he 
operates  the  shelves  at  all  four  of  the  small  yards  for  the 
exercise  of  the  layers.  The  running  they  actually  do 
while  he  is  controlling  their  movements  is  only  a  small 
part  of  the  scheme.  The  habit  of  expectation  being 
formed,  they  will  run  back  and  forth  hundreds  of  times 
every  day  and  visit  the  small  yards,  whether  the  shelves 
are  operated  or  not.  The  feed  shelves  in  the  main 
building  are  operated  by  hand  hammers  only  and  at 
either  end  indifferently,  but  those  in  the  small  yards  are 
operated  by  pivoted  hammers,  cords,  pulleys  and  wires 
(as  described  elsewhere)  when  you  are  at  the  end  of  the 
main  building  the  farthest  away,  and  by  hand  hammers 
when  you  are  near.  In  the  ground  plan,  Fig.  27,  the 
straight  dotted  lines  show  the  location  of  the  six  shelves. 
One  of  the  shelves  in  the  long  building  is  shown  sus- 
pended by  wires  or  cords  at  J,  Fig.  29.  This  shelf 
being,  as  we  have  said,  operated  by  hand  hammers  at 


88  AN   EGG    PAEM. 

either  end,  must  be  allowed  to  swing  freely  both  ways 
and  therefore  it  has  no  stopper,  but  the  shelves  in  the 
covered  yards,  ?/,  have  stoppers  to  swing  against,  the 
same  as  shown  at  i  in  Fig.  111.  At  either  operating 
room,  no  matter  which,  you  can,  by  this  very  simple, 
extremely  durable  and  exceedingly  cheap  apparatus, 
which,  moreover,  is  not  liable  to  get  out  of  order,  con- 
trol every  nest,  either  of  sitting  or  laying  bird,  and  oper- 
ate any  or  all  of  the  six  feed  shelves,  and  open  or  close 
all  of  the  sixteen  gates.  You  can  separate  the  layers  as 
a  whole  from  the  sitters  in  less  than  half  a  minute,  and 
at  will  separate  each  individual  sitter  from  all  the  layers 
and  from  all  the  other  sitters. 

The  employment  of  sitting  hens  in  large  numbers  has 
not  hitherto  been  looked  upon  with  favor,  because 
poultry  keepers  have  not  availed  themselves  of  suitable 
conveniences,  having,  in  fact,  not  been  aware  of  the  cer- 
tainty and  precision  with  which  the  birds  can  be  made 
to  do  what  you  want  them  to  do.  A  flock  of  two  hun- 
dred can  be  made  to  run  two  hundred  feet  in  a  minute, 
either  towards  you  or  away  from  you  or  to  the  right  or 
the  left,  as  you  choose,  and  this  without  your  having 
spent  any  time  at  all  to  speak  of  in  their  preliminary 
training.  Just  a  few  pulls  of  a  wire  or  some  other  appli- 
ance, while  you  are  at  the  premises  working  at  other 
matters,  and,  lo  and  behold,  they  have  a  liberal  educa- 
tion,— are  highly  accomplished,  in  fact,  before  yon  know 
it.  You  can  then  do  just  what  you  want  with  them  by 
merely  reaching  for  a  lever  or  a  cord.  The  bugbear  of  sit- 
ting hens  has  vanished  into  thin  air.  There  is  not  a  thing 
expensive,  excepting  the  six  hundred  and  sixty  feet  of 
shafts  or  pipe,  and  this,  thanks  to  the  cheapness  of 
modern  iron  goods,  costs  less  than  the  price  of  one  of 
the  ten  incubators  it  displaces.  The  figure  4's  and  con- 
nections seem  rather  costly,  but  made  in  quantities  are 
really  quite  inexpensive,  and  all  the  small  wooden  parts 


FOR    SITTERS    1^    MILD    CLIMATES.  89 

of  the  nests  and  passages  can  be  cheaply  sawed  by  power. 
The  pipes  should  be  put  in  position  and  screwed 
together  and  the  places  for  holes,  of  one-eighth  inch 
diameter,  marked,  after  which  the  drilling  should  be  done 
by  power  and  by  means  of  these  holes  the  arms  can  be 
readily  attached  in  the  main  building  and  the  gates 
fastened  on  at'  the  covered  yards.  In  comparison  with 
this  simple  and  cheap  equipment,  an  equivalent  in  incu- 
bators and  suitable  incubator  rooms  or  cellars  is  compli- 
cated and  costly. 

It  is  a  matter  of  no  consequence  whether  or  no  a  sit- 
ter returns  to  the  identical  nest  she  left,  but  it  is  desira- 
ble that  she  should  return  to  one  not  far  away,  and  she 
will  always  do  so.  If  her  nest  is  near  the  center  of 
the  row,  she  will  not  go  to  either  end  of  the  row,  and, 
if  she  belongs  near  the  right-hand  end  of  the  row,  she 
will  not  mistake  the  left-hand  end  for  it.  To  facilitate 
matters,  layers'  nests  are  mixed  with  those  of  sitters  the 
whole  length  of  the  row,  and  localities  are  designated  by 
barrels,  boxes,  sheaves  of  straw,  boughs,  etc.,  placed 
just  outside  the  building.  See  Chapter  XIV. 

Just  before  opening  the  nests  of  the  sitters,  a  feed 
shelf  in  one  of  the  small  yards  is  operated,  and,  after 
waiting  a  short  interval  for  the  layers  to  get  in — they 
make  tracks  at  a  rate  not  to  hinder  you  long — they  are 
shut  in  by  operating  the  gates.  The  shelf  and  gates  at 
the  opposite  small  yard  are  next  used  to  catch  any  layers 
not  captured  the  first  time,  though  probably  ninety- 
eight  per  cent  or  more  were  caught.  If  one  or  two  or 
three  in  a  hundred  are  not  entrapped  at  all  there  will  be 
no  particular  harm.  The  principal  object  in  separating 
the  layers  is  to  prevent  them  from  devouring  the  feed 
designed  for  the  sitters.  Troughs,  ample  for  a  full  day's 
supply  of  water  for  both  layers  and  sitters,  are  in  the 
large  yard.  Of  course,  labor  saving  requires  that  this 
be  conducted  by  pipes  and  the  flow  governed  by  simply 


90  AN   EGG   FARM. 

turning  a  cock.  Or,  in  the  region  of  mild  weather 
previously  described,  a  float  valve  can  be  used  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  year  to  govern  the  supply  and  the 
attendant  need  not  lift  a  finger.  For  the  greatest  con- 
venience in  feeding  grain,  bins  are  located  in  the  oper- 
ating rooms,  m,  Fig.  27,  and  access  to  the  feed  shelves 
is  by  doors  at  t,  leading  from  the  operating  rooms  into 
the  small  covered  yards,  and  by  the  door,  s,  which  leads 
to  the  shelves  in  the  main  building.  The  shelves  are  of 
course  loaded  by  rule,  an  exact  quantity  of  grain  being 
placed  on  each  daily,  and  all  fed  that  day  to  the  last 
kernel,  so  that  rats  will  not  be  baited  to  the  premises  at 
night.  The  operation  of  charging  the  feed  shelves  is  a 
very  quick  one,  their  hight  from  the  ground  being  con- 
venient, four  feet  in  the  main  building  and  three  feet  in 
the  covered  yards.  With  a  shallow  scoop  of  just  the 
proper  size  and  shape,  the  attendant  distributes  grain  as 
fast  as  he  can  walk,  about  five  hundred  feet  of  shelves 
being  tended  in  less  than  fifteen  minutes,  and  one  charge 
lasts  all  day. 

The  curved  dotted  lines  in  the  big  yards  in  the 
ground  plan,  Fig.  27,  show  the  location  of  board  fences, 
or  rims,  they  may  be  called,  since  they  are  only  one  foot 
high.  The  yard  is  plentifully  supplied  with  straw  for 
scratching  purposes  and  these  rims  are  to  keep  it  from 
getting  into  the  corners  of  the  yard.  The  wide  gates  in 
the  center,  at  right  and  left  in  the  cut,  admit  a  team 
hitched  to  a  hay  tedder  or  to  a  side  delivery  rake.  The 
area  in  which  these  implements  are  to  be  used  is  not 
circular,  as  the  cut  might  appear  to  indicate,  but  ellip- 
tical, for  as  before  stated,  the  cut  was  reduced  to  suit  the 
limits  of  a  page.  The  circuit  then  is  as  liberal  as  an 
ellipse  occupying  nearly  all  the  space  in  a  yard  one  hun- 
dred and  forty-four  feet  by  fifty  feet.  Plowing  and  har- 
rowing, as  well  as  raking,  can  be  handily  done  in  this 
ellipse  on  the  occasions  of  the  removal  of  the  old  straw 


FOR    SITTERS    IN    MIND    CLIMATES.  91 

to  be  replaced  with  fresh,  or  when  straw  cannot  be  had. 
The  stirring  of  straw  with  a  hand  fork,  or  digging  soil 
with  a  spade,  on  any  considerable  scale,  is  a  back  number. 
If  it  is  desired  to  scatter  grain  broadcast,  a  seeder  car- 
ried by  the  operator  and  worked  by  a  small  crank,  as  if 
he  had  a  coffee  mill  slung  over  his  shoulders,  can  be 
used,  but  the  preferable  plan  is  to  first  rake  the  straw 
into  a  continuous  winding  windrow  with  the  side  deliv- 
ery rake,  and  then  let  the  driver  of  the  hay  tedder  rein 
his  team  with  one  hand  and  scatter  grain  with  the  other, 
while  he  goes  lengthwise  of  the  windrow.  When  the 
horseless  carriage  is  perfected,  substitute  it  for  the  team 
in  seeding  and  raking  at  the  hatching  house  yards  and 
also  for  all  operations  where  horses-  are  used  in  the 
colony  or  itinerant  plan.  The  motor-propelled  bicycle 
is  to  be  utilized,  besides,  to  afford  the  attendant  quick 
access  to  all  parts  of  the  plant.  Use  finely  cracked  corn 
always,  on  or  under  litter  at  the  scratching  places,  and 
on  feed  shelves,  in  preference  to  whole  grain,  so  as  to 
make  more  work  for  the  fowls.  The  board  rims  have 
an  additional  use  and  one  which  is  quite  important. 
Being  in  the  track  where  the  sitters  race  back  and  forth 
to  find  grain  near  the  small  yards,  these  diminutive 
fences  are  jumped  upon  at  every  trip,  affording  wing 
exercise.  Nothing  pleases  a  sitter  better  than  to  use  her 
wings  by  flying  up  on  something,  as  well  as  her  feetr 
Not  only  does  she  secure,  after  her  sedentary  existence, 
grateful  exercise  of  muscles,  the  largest  in  her  body,  which 
are  attached  to  her  wings  ;  but  by  the  thorough  airing  of 
her  whole  plumage  her  wing  gymnastics  give,  and  by  the 
disinfecting  properties  of  the  earth  in  which  she  shuffles, 
her  nest  is  kept  sweet.  Oh,  nature  understands  her 
business,  and  the  first  air  inhaled  by  the  younglings 
should  be  altogether  purer  than  the  noisome  exhalations 
of  a  reeking,  perspiring  incubator.  The  whole  economy 
of  incubation  of  any  species  of  bird  is  one  of  the  most 
perfect  and  admirable  things  in  the  universe. 


CHAPTEK  IX. 

MANAGING   THE    SITTERS. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  explain  in  full  the  manage- 
ment of  the  sitting  hens.  It  is,  say,  4  o'clock  p.  m. 
The  sitters  have  been  shut  in  their  nests  all  day  without 
food  or  water,  the  doors  being  in  the  second  position, 
closed,  but  the  hens  have  been  exceedingly  comfortable, 
owing  to  the  special  provision  for  guarding  against  the 
heat  overhead  and  permitting  the  free  circulation  of  air 
in  every  part  of  the  building,  the  comfort  of  the  attend- 
ant and  of  the  birds  both  being  secured.  The  layers 
have  had  access  to  all  the  yards  and  to  their  own  nests 
all  day,  the  doors  leading  to  the  latter  remaining  at  the 
third  position.  Enter  attendant  at  either  operating 
room,  it  is  immaterial  which: 

1.  Operate  feed  shelf  at  one  of  the  small  yards. 

2.  Close  the  gates  to  that  yard. 

3.  Operate  feed  shelf  at  opposite  small  yard  at  same 
side  of  main  building. 

4.  Close  the  gates  to  that  yard. 

5.  Put   doors   of    layers'   nests    in   second    position 
(closed). 

6.  Put  doors  of  sitters'  nests  in  third  position  (not 
quite  wide  open). 

7.  Operate   the   long  feed   shelf    same   side   of  the 
building. 

.   8.     Put   doors   of    sitters'   nests   in   second    position 
(closed). 

Next  go  through  the  eight  operations  aforesaid  on  the 
other  side  of  the  building.  Next  go  through  the  alley 

'  92 


MANAGING   THE   SITTERS.  93 

and  take  from  nests  any  sitters  which  failed  to  leave  the 
nests  at  the  proper  time,  the  nests  being  "get-at-able" 
because  each  has  a  door  fronting  the  alley,  as  will  be 
described  further  on.  The  7th  operation  in  the  pro- 
gram drops  grain  in  full  view  of  the  sitters  on  a  level 
with  their  nests  and  only  about  two  feet  away,  and  the 
sound  of  the  bell  or  of  the  hammer  being  one  to  which 
they  had  been  accustomed  for  months,  if  not  for  years, 
the  cases  will  be  few  where  taking  them  off  by  hand  will 
be  necessary.  If  there  was  very  much  of  this  removing 
sitters  by  ' '  main  strength  and  awkwardness,"  labor  saving 
would  bid  a  sad  farewell  to  the  whole  scheme.  But  so 
strong  is  the  confirmed  habit  of  going  with  the  crowd  at 
the  hammer  stroke,  and  so  exciting  is  the  sight  of  their 
companions  feasting  so  near,  that  few  will  fail  to  leave. 
Those  proving  tardy  are  marked  by  a  dab  of  fresh  red 
paint  on  the  white  groundwork  of  their  feathers,  and  if 
you  have  plenty  of  other  sitters,  when  the  bird  has 
received  two  or  three  marks  you  can  not  only  relieve 
her  from  her  task,  but  remove  her  from  the  building 
altogether.  The  nest  boxes  being  of  wirework  mostly, 
the  hens  which  did  not  leave  their  nests,  if  any,  can  be 
readily  seen.  Next,  while  the  sitters  are  running  all 
over  the  large  yard,  and  from  one  small  yard  to  the 
other,  and  visiting  the  water  troughs  and  dusting  places, 
the  operator  inspects  all  the  nests  to  detect  anything 
amiss.  Whenever  he  reaches  either  end  of  the  alley  he 
operates  all  the  shelves  in  the  small  yards,  and  perhaps 
in  the  main  building  also.  The ' sitters  will  run  around 
with  persistent  activity  the  most  of  the  time,  whether 
the  feed  shelves  are  worked  or  not.  Finely  cut  dried 
clover  rowen  or  nicely  cured  corn  fodder  early  in  the 
season,  or  some  sort  of  green  vegetable  stuff  later,  and 
gravel,  must  be  in  the  yards  for  all,  both  layers  and 
sitters.  When  the  birds  have  had  time  enough  for  eat- 
ing, the  doors  of  passages  to  sitters'  nests  are  put  in  the 


94  AN"   EGG   FARM. 

first  position,  held  open  by  the  figure  4's,  the  shaft  and 
arms  being  left  at  the  second  position,  with  the  cords 
slack  so  that  the  sitters  can  spring  the  traps,  and  the 
attendant's  presence  is  now  no  longer  necessary.  The 
gates,  G,  G,  G,  G,  should  not  be  opened  to  let  the  layers 
out  until  about  sundown,  so  as  to  give  the  sitters  plenty 
of  time  to  return  to  their  nests,  and  so  as  to  prevent 


FIG.  31.  ROW  OF  NESTS  SEEN  FROM  BELOW. 

birds  among  the  layers  having  broody  inclinations  from 
taking  possession  of  nests  belonging  to  the  sitters. 

Figure  31  shows  the  convenience  for  the  attendant's 
work  at  the  nests,  the  view  being  taken  from  the  sunken 
alley  and  giving  the  position  of  a  row  of  nests  on  one 
side,  the  bottom  of  the  nests  being  two  and  one-half 
feet  higher  than  the  ground  at  the  bottom  of  the  alley. 
One  rail  of  the  railroad  track  is  shown  at  w,  and  one  of 


MANAGING    THE    SITTERS.  95 

its  supports  ,s  shown  at  u,  it  having  been  set  in  the 
stonework  when  the  wall  was  built.  The  doors  in  front 
of  the  nests  are  of  wire  work,  the  mesh  being  one  inch, 
to  keep  out  rats,  attached  to  a  light  wooden  frame,  dl 
showing  a  closed  door,  and  d2  one  which  is  open;  b  is  a 
nest  with  its  front  exposed  as  it  would  be  for  gathering 
eggs  or  for  other  purposes.  One  side  of  the  wooden  rim 
four  inches  wide,  which  surrounds  the  nest  on  four  sides, 
is  represented  at  z.  Wire  work,  two-inch  mesh,  separat- 
ing the  roost  from  the  alley,  is  seen  at  g  g.  Compare 
this  cut  with  Figs.  25,  26,  27  and  29. 

As  was  hinted  before,  when  we  were  describing  the  reg- 
ular daily  program  of  the  management  of  sitters,  if  there 
wrere  many  fowls  to  be  lifted  from  their  nests  the  task 
would  be  an  onerous  one.  Not  only  do  we  propagate  a 
sitting  breed  exemplary  in  all  motherly  conduct,  and 
cull  and  reject  obstinate  laggards,  but  whenever  we  do 
have  to  catch,  a  bird  which  overdoes  the  virtue  of  con- 
stancy, the  conveniences  must  be  such  as  to  reduce  the 
bother  to  the  very  minimum.  Below  the  aperture,  r,  is 
seen  the  edge  of  the  roost  floor,  s,  upon  which  the  delin- 
quent bird  is  placed  after  she  has  been  taken  from  the 
nest.  When  the  nest,  #,  is  opened,  r  is  opened  also. 
Take  the  fowl  in  both  hands,  with  the  thumbs  confining 
her  wings,  and  place  her  on  the  floor,  s.  Elsewhere 
an  entirely  different  method  of  handling  a  sitter  is 
described,  one  hand  only  being  employed,  and  her  wings 
being  left  free,  which  is  the  way  to  proceed  when  the 
bird  is  to  be  lowered  and  placed  on  the  floor  at  your  feet, 
but  not  the  correct  way  when  she  is  to  be  raised  and  put 
through  a  small  door.  The  distance  between  b  and  r  is 
small,  which  expedites  the  operation,  and  also  both  of  these 
are  within  easy  reach,  b  being  2  1-2  ft.,  and  s  5  1-2  ft. 
above  where  the  attendant  stands.  The  trap-setter 
shaft  is  7,  and  m  the  layer  nest  shaft,  correctly  repre- 
sented as  being  one  but  slightly  higher  than  the  other. 


96  Atf   EGG    FARM. 

In  all  the  other  cuts  these  shafts  were  purposely  placed 
wide  apart,  to  give  a  plainer  view  of  the  cords,  arms 
and  other  parts.  In  Fig.  29,  for  the  same  reason,  the 
roost,  r,  was  entirely  omitted.  It  is  144  ft.  long,  and 
its  floor,  set  on  a  slant  downwards  toward  the  outside  of 
the  building,  is  only  3  1-4  ft.  wide,  so  that  it  will  not 
intercept  the  grain  which  falls  from  the  shelf.  One 
perch  only  is  needed,  and  this  stands  18  in.  above  the 
roost  floor  and  is  144  ft.  long. 


CHAPTER    X. 

COOPS    FOR   CHICKENS. 

The  construction  of  the  coops  for  young  chickens  will 
now  be  described.  A  chicken  coop  must  be  adapted  to 
warm  weather  and  cold,  and  especially  to  rains,  be  easily 
cleaned,  and  made  rat-proof  at  night.  The  old-fashioned 
triangular  pattern,  Fig.  33,  secures  all  this,  and  also 
gives  small  chickens  a  chance  to  escape  under  the  eaves 
from  the  feet  of  the  hens.  Two  hens  are  put  together 
with  their  broods,  for  reasons  which  will  be  given  in 
another  place.  The  size  proper  to  accommodate  a 
double  brood  is  2  1-2x3  1-2  ft.  upon  the  ground,  with 
roof  3  ft.  from  eaves  to  peak.  A  bit  of  scantling  is  fas- 
tened to  each  roof  for  a  handle.  The  door,  a,  is  hinged 
to  open  upwards.  There  is  a  small  door  at  the  rear 
that  will  allow  chickens  to  pass,  but  not  grown  fowls. 


B 


FIG.  32.      THK   FIGURE  4.      SEE   CUTS  25,  26  AND  29. 

An  opening  for  ventilation  is  made  near  the  peak,  and 
covered  with  wire  cloth.  Take  inch  boards,  b  b,  Fig.  34, 
and  nail  strongly,  planed  side  up,  to  the  cleats,  c  c,  and 

7  97 


98  AN    EGG    FARM. 

clinch.  Let  both  ends  of  each  cleat  project  three  inches, 
and  the  outside  edge  of  each  two  inches.  This  is  th'e 
movable  floor,  and  must  be  of  such  size  that  the  coop 
shall  rest  entirely  upon  the  projecting  ends  and  edges  of 
the  cleats,  then  when  the  doors  are  closed,  all  rain  will 
be  shed  outside  the  floor.  In  Fig.  35,  a  section  of  the 
coop  shows  the  floor  in  its  place.  When  the  doors  are 


FIG.  33.     COOP   FOR  CHICKS. 


closed  at  night,  leave  the  large  one,  a,  Fig.  33,  ajar  one- 
half  or  one  inch,  according  to  the  weather,  for  air,  and 
fasten  it  with  nails  for  pegs  stuck  in  holes  bored  at  various 
distances  through  the  cleats,  at  d  d,  Fig.  34,  which  will 
make  the  coop  perfectly  rat-proof.  Once  a  week,  after 
opening  the  door,  a,  to  enable  the  chickens  to  escape 
through  the  slats  out  of  the  way,  slide  the  coop  slowly 
length  wise  of  the  cleats  away  from  the  floor,  which  must 
be  scraped  thoroughly  ;  then  give  it  a  shovelful  of  dry 
earth  and  replace.  You  will  always  have  a  dry,  inodor- 
ous apartment,  and  will  not  shut  up  chickens  in  close, 
foul  air.  In  every  small  coop  or  box  for  live  animals 
there  must  be  openings  for  the  admission  of  air  and 
escape  of  noxious  emanations,  not  only  at  the  top,  but 
at  the  extreme  bottom.  This  matter  is  often  overlooked 
in  shipping  coops,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  occu- 


COOPS   FOR   CHICKENS. 


pants,  the  openings  at  the  top  being  erroneously  deemed 
sufficient. 

All  the  chickens  destined  for  the  itinerant  stations 
must,  as  mentioned  on  Page  19,  be  fed  indirectly.  For 
two  days  only  are  they  and  the  hens  fed  upon  the  floor 
of  the  coop.  Then  for  a  week  they  are  fed  in  the  box 
given  in  Fig.  36.  It  has  no  bottom,  and  the  top,  not 
shown  in  the  figure,  is  temporary,  and  composed  of  loose 
boards.  Place  it  so  that  its  door  shall  meet  the  small 
door  in  the  coop,  having  first  dropped  in  the  feed  at  the 
corner,  and  covered  the  box  with  the  boards  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  admit  a  little  light.  After  a  week  the 

chickens,  being  strong 
enough  to  venture  some 
distance,  are  fed  from  a 
box  of  galvanized  iron 
6x16 in.,  and  3-4  in.  deep, 
Fig.  37.  A  wire  grating, 
F,  with  meshes  one  inch 
square,  protects  the  feed 
from  the  feet  of  the 

chickens,  but  admits  their  bills.  The  grating  is  covered 
at  pleasure  by  a  lid,  G,  these  being  hinged  to  opposite 
sides  of  the  box.  When  such  boxes  are  placed  in  a  row, 
Fip.  38,  each  filled  with  feed,  one  for  each  coop,  with  the 
lids  down,  a  snap-hook  is  attached  to  a  ring  which  is  fas- 
tened to  each  lid,  and  a  wire  connects  with  all  the  hooks, 
as  in  Fig.  38.  One  pull  opens  all  the  lids,  and  the 
chickens  are  at  dinner. 

These  feed  boxes  are  carried  to  the  granary  to  be  filled, 
using  a  wheelbarrow,  in  which  many  may  be  packed  at 
a  time.  The  coops  are  twenty  feet  apart,  in  a  single 
row,  and  the  wheelbarrow  is  rolled  along  the  line,  and 
the  boxes,  with  lids  closed,  are  put  on  the  side  of  the 
coops  near  the  small  doors,  which  are  shut,  in  order 
that  the  hens  may  not  worry  when  the  chickens  are  feed- 


100 


EGG   FARM, 


ing.  If  the  distance  is  considerable,  use  the  low-down 
wagon  in  place  of  the  wheelbarrow.  The  hens  are  fed 
and  watered  in  cups,  fastened  to  the  inside  of  the  coops 
as  high  as  they  can  reach.  The  cups  are  filled  with 
whole  corn  once  each  twenty-four  hours,  after  dark  in 

the  evening,  so  as  not  to  at- 
tract the  attention  of  either 
hens  or  chickens.  When  the 
chickens  are  a  month  old,  a 
part  of  their  feed  may  be  buried 
near  the  coop  early  in  the 
morning,  before  they  are  let 
out,  so  that  they  may  scratch 
during  the  day,  although  this 
is  not  essential,  for  when  there 
is  unlimited  range,  young  chicks  will  always  take  suffi- 
cient exercise.  Whenever  it  is  rainy,  the  box  used  the 
first  week  for  feeding,  Fig.  36,  is  again  resorted  to  for 
that  purpose. 

The  additional  time  required  to  feed  chickens  indi- 
rectly is  slight,  if  operations  are  systematized.     All  the 


FIG.  35. 


FEED  BOX  FOR  CHICKS. 


chickens  of  the  breeding  or  pedigree  stock,  and  of  the 
sitting  class  also,  are  reared  at  a  separate  part  of  the 
farm,  and  fed  directly. 

When  the  hens  are  removed  from  the  chickens,  the 
latter  huddle  together  nights  upon  the  floor  for  some 


COOPS   FOR   CHICKENS.  101 

weeks,  but  when  old  enough  to  perch,  the  box,  Fig.  36, 
is  placed  upon  the  movable  coop  floor,  and  the  coop  is 
placed  upon  the  top  of  the  whole,  the  box  being  of  the 
size  of  the  boards,  ~b  1),  in  Fig.  34,  so  that  the  eaves  and 
sides  of  the  coop  overlap  sufficiently  to  shed  rain.  The 
box  has  two  perches  permanently  fastened  to  it,  one  of 
which  is  seen  in  Fig.  36.  This  roost  is  rat-proof,  and 
half  a  bushel  or  so  of  dry  earth  keeps  it  clean. 


CHAPTER  XL 

FOWLS   FOE   LAYERS   AXD    SITTERS. 

The  layers  must  be  of  a  breed  that  affords  chickens 
easily  reared,  for  success  in  the  nursery  department  is 
all  important  and  they  must  be  at  the  head  of  the  list 
of  prolific  layers  of  fair  sized  eggs.  None  but  a  non-sit- 
ting race  will  answer,  for,  needing  to  be  broken  up  fre- 
quently, sitters  make  fully  double  the  labor  during  half 
of  the  year;  and  the  feathers  must  be  light,  because 
dark  ones  show  badly  when  chickens  are  dressed. 
There  is  at  present  no  breed  that  fulfills  all  these  con- 
ditions so  well  as  the  White  Leghorn.  It  may  degener- 
ate in  time,  as  other  races  of  fowls  have  done,  by  being 
bred  for  fancy  instead  of  utility,  but  it  possessed  at  its 
first  importation  more  vigor  than  any  other  non-sitting 
breed.  In  breeding  poultry,  show  and  utility  do  not  get 
on  well  together  in  the  long  run.  To  fanciers  unques- 
tionably belongs  the  credit  of  originating  improved 
breeds,  but  afterwards,  in  fixing  conventional  points  for 
the  show  room,  the  stock  is  often  ruined  in  their  hands. 

Many  breeders  of  livestock, — not  poultry  alone,  but  in 
other  departments, — do  not  fully  understand  the  relation 
between  fancy  points  and  useful  ones.  The  confusion 
in  the  minds  of  some  writers  on  this  matter  is  evident. 
"Why  should  not  a  fowl  that  scores  high  in  shape  of 
comb  and  tail  and  in  color  of  legs  and  plumage,  lay  just 
as  well  as  one  that  scores  low  in  these  things  ?"  some 
one  asks.  The  answer  is  that  a  fancy  comb  and  a  fancy 
plumage  in  that  individual  fowl  have  certainly  no  direct 

102 


FOWLS   FOR   LAYEES   AND    SITTEKS.  103 

power  to  prevent  her  from  laying  well,  but  this  is  only 
part  of  the  story.  That  fowl  has  a  history  of  descent, 
It  is  harder  to  breed  to  the  point  where  good  laying  is  a 
trait  of  the  strain  if  you  select  your  breeding  stock  each 
generation  on  the  basis  of  fancy  points  as  well  as  of  lay- 
ing qualities ;  for  while  choosing  your  breeders,  you 
necessarily  pass  by  on  account  of  faulty  plumage  some 
of  the  most  eminent  layers  that  would  have  helped  your 
strain  mightily. 

An  illustration  will  not  be  amiss,  there  is  so  much 
ignorance  prevailing  on  this  point.  Frederick  the  Great 
had  a  body  guard  of  soldiers  of  gigantic  stature.  The 
question  might  be  put,  is  there  any  reason  in  the  world 
why  a  red  haired  or  a  brown  haired  man  may  not  be  as 
tall  as  black  haired  men  ?  None  in  the  world,  surely ; 
but  if  the  monarch  desired  a  guard  of  the  very  tallest 


FIG.  37.     FKED   BOX   WITH  GKATING. 

mien  his  realm  could  possibly  afford,  then  the  average 
hight  of  the  battalion  would  be  greater  if  there  were 
no  restrictions  on  color  of  eyes,  hair,  and  so  on,  than  if 
one  specified  shade  only  was  admissible.  Suppose  the 
requirements  were  black  hair  together  with  blue  eyes 
and  great  stature,  the  greater  the  better,  how  would  the 
average  hight  of  the  selected  men  turn  out  ?  As  such 
eyes  and  hair  do  sometimes  go  together,  the  guard 
might  thus  be  recruited  if  the  realm  contained  popula- 


104  AX    EGG    FAKM. 

tion  enough,  but  the  average  hight  of  its  men  would  be 
less  than  if  the  selection  had  not  been  handicapped  by 
the  specifications  we  have  supposed. 

Apply  the  same  reasoning  to  cattle.  The  Jerseys  are 
now  of  every  imaginable  color — solid,  broken,  black, 
white,  red,  fawn,  brown,  roan,  buff,  spotted,  brindled, 
ring-streaked,  speckled  and  grizzled.  Suppose  it  were 
desired  to  select  breeders  for  a  hundred  years  from  all 
the  pure  Jerseys  in  the  world  to  produce  a  strain  of  the 
largest  sized,  pure-bred  animals  possible.  Two  entirely 
separate  herds  are  to  be  built  up,  neither  of  which  shall 
draw  from  the  other,  but  each  to  draw  freely  from  the 
whole  world  beside.  One  herd  must  be  produced  of  the 
greatest  sized  animals  possible  and  all  of  a  solid  bay, 
and  the  other  herd  of  the  greatest  sized  animals  possible, 
but  entirely  irrespective  of  color.  Which  herd,  at  the 
end  of  one  hundred  years,  other  things  being  equal, 
would  contain  the  largest  cattle  ? 

A  drawback  to  the  Leghorn  family  is  the  great  size  of 
combs  and  wattles.  Possibly  this  trait  may  be  gradually 
bred  out  in  time  without  impairing  the  useful  traits  of 
the  breed,  but  it  is  doubtful.  It  has  been  noticed  that 
the  most  yigorous  birds  and  the  best  layers  have  these 
appendages  the  most  fully  developed,  and  it  is  probable 
that  in  the  Mediterranean  regions,  where  they  originated 
and  where  they  were  bred  at  the  monasteries  for  cen- 
turies, the  monks  of  the  middle  ages  being  enthusiastic 
poultry  fanciers,  and  the  breed  being  extremely  ancient, 
the  conscious  selection  of  the  best  layers  for  breeders 
resulted  unwittingly  in  the  selection  of  birds  with  the 
biggest  combs, 

Or,  the  mere  fact  of  the  keeping  of  the  breed  un- 
mixed for  hundreds  of  years,  would,  of  itself,  have 
resulted  in  a  large  combed  breed,  even  if  the  keep- 
ers were  not  consciously  selecting  eggs  for  hatching 
from  the  best  layers  (if  large  combs  and  prolificness 


EOWLS   FOR   LAYERS   AND   SITTERS. 


105 


naturally  go  together) ;  for  the  best  layers  being  the 
most  fully  represented  by  newly  laid  eggs  in  the  nests, 
would,  also,  by  obvious  doctrine  of  chances,  or,  more 
properly,  by  mathematical  law,  be  the  most  fully  repre- 
sented in  eggs  for  hatching  purposes  and  in  number  of 
chicks  hatched  and  reared  ;  unless,  indeed,  extreme  pro- 
lificness  was  accompanied  by  deficient  vitality  of  the 
germs.  It  would  be  inevitable  that  the  numerical  pre- 
ponderance of  eggs  for  hatching  laid  by  large  combed, 
prolific  birds  would  operate  to  develop  a  strain  of  both 
large  combs  and  prolificness,  until  a  limit  was  reached 
beyond  which  the  process  could  not  go.  This  limit  is 
discovered  in  the  fact  that  the  production  of  an  unusually 
great  number  of  eggs  laid  by  a  fowl  is  accompanied  by 


FIG.  38.  ARRANGEMENT  FOR  OPENING  FEED  BOXES. 

a  lack  of  vitality  in  the  eggs,  excepting  those  at  the 
beginning  of  the  laying,  which  experience  shows  are 
comparatively  exempt,  though  probably  even  these  are 
somewhat  affected. 

There  are  two  other  ways  in  which  the  great  size  of 
combs  of  fowls  from  the  Mediterranean  may  have  been 
brought  about.  The  combs  were  highly  prized  for  food, 
and,  at  certain  eras,  the  monks  were  more  given  to 
luxury  than  to  austerity ;  or,  in  periods  of  rigid  disci- 
pline, while  living  on  bread  and  water  they  may  have 


106  AN   EGG   FARM. 

sold  the  combs  for  the  revenue  of  the  house,  and,  there- 
fore, may  have  kept  up  a  careful  selection  of  large 
combed  birds  for  breeders.  And  there  is,  besides,  the 
consideration  of  a  warm  climate.  The  wild  parent  stock 
of  our  domestic  fowls  live,  in  part  at  least,  high  up  on 
the  sides  of  mountains,  and  very  likely  the  climate  of 
Italy  and  vicinity  may  be  warmer  than  that  to  which 
their  progenitors  were  accustomed.  As  time  progresses, 
the  question  of  influence  of  a  warm  climate  on  size  of 
comb  will  be  determined  by  noting  the  appearance  of 
the  Leghorns  now  kept  quite  extensively  in  our  southern 
states. 

The  drawbacks  of  large  combs  and  wattles  are,  freez- 
ing in  our  northern  states,  and  the  discomforts  and 
strain  resulting  from  carrying  so  much  weight  on  the 
head.  It  appears  as  though  the  circulation  of  blood  in 
the  head  is  somehow  affected  by  these  excessive  appen- 
dages, for  it  has  been  observed  that  a  Leghorn  having 
frequent  spells  of  giddiness  and  staggering  can  some- 
times be  quickly  and  permanently  cured  by  trimming 
the  comb,  and  we  would  always  recommend  the  trim- 
ming of  both  comb  and  wattles  for  both  sexes,  Fig.  39, 
when  two-thirds  grown,  especially  in  view  of  freezing, 
when  zero  weather  occurs.  Use  shears  or  scissors  instead 
of  a  knife  so  as  to  pinch  the  blood  vessels  and  mitigate 
the  flow  of  blood.  The  operation  is  not  so  painful  as  it 
might  appear,  we  will  state  for  the  benefit  of  the  Society 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals.  Nature  evi- 
dently provided  that  the  comb  and  wattles  should  be 
comparatively  destitute  of  feeling.  As,  during  the  thou- 
sands on  thousands  of  years  the  males  fought  for  posses- 
sion of  the  females  and  the  comb  and  wattles  were  the 
parts  seized  upon  in  the  struggle,  a  lack  of  sensitiveness 
in  these  appendages  would  be  perpetuated  and  aug- 
mented on  the  principal  of  natural  selection.  So  indif- 
ferent is  a  fowl  that  after  being  dubbed  it  will  uncon- 


FO.WLS    FOR    LAYERS    AND    SITTERS. 


107 


108  AN   EGG   FAKM. 

cernedly  fall  to  eating  its  own  comb  and  wattles,  if 
allowed  the  privilege.  This  dullness  or  fewness  of  nerves 
of  feeling  in  the  combs,  when  understood,  may  alleviate 
the  pangs  felt  by  many  persons  at  the  mention  of  what 
has  been  wrongly  called  a  cruel  practice.  It  is  easier 
for  a  fowl  to  stand  dubbing  than  to  endure  a  frozen  comb. 

The  layers  are  relied  upon  to  produce  the  principal 
part  of  the  income,  and  as  they  are  chief  in  point  of 
numbers,  the  detached  stations  where  they  are  kept 
form  the  main  part  of  the  establishment,  to  which  the 
breeding  and  sitting  departments  are  merely  tributary. 
Most  of  the  layers  must  be  kept  only  until  the  age  of 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  months,  and  then  killed  for  sale, 
and  their  places  supplied  by  young  pullets.  This  course 
is  necessary,  because  the  yield  of  eggs  is  greatest  during 
the  first  laying  season  if  the  hens  are  of  an  early  matur- 
ing breed,  and  are  fed  high  and  stimulated  to  the 
utmost,  as  they  must  be  to  secure  the  highest  profit. 
For,  though  hens  are  still  vigorous  at  two  years,  it  will 
be  found  that  after  a  course  of  forcing  to  their  greatest 
capacity  through  the  first  season,  they  cannot  generally 
be  made  to  lay  profusely  during  the  second.  If  we 
chose  not  to  put  on  the  full  pressure  of  diet  the  first 
year,  but  to  feed  moderately  high  for  two  or  three  years, 
a  fair  yield  of  eggs  would  be  afforded  during  each.  But 
such  a  course  would  not  pay  as  well  as  to  keep  pullets 
only,  and  maintain  a  forcing  system  constantly  from  the 
time  they  commence  to  lay  until  they  stop,  and  then 
market  them  before  they  eat  up  the  profits  in  the  idle- 
ness of  fall  and  winter. 

Pullets  grow  fast  during  the  early  part  of  their  lives,  and 
give  a  return  in  flesh  for  what  they  eat  then.  After  they 
commence  laying,  their  eggs  are  prompt  dividends,  and, 
besides,  their  bodies  increase  in  weight  until  the  age  of  a 
year  or  more.  Young  hens  may  be  killed  a  fortnight  after 
ceasing  to  lay,  and  if  they  have  been  skillfully  fed,  their 


FOWLS   FOR   LAYERS   AND   SITTERS.  109 

flesh  will  prove  excellent  for  the  table  as  compared  with 
fowls  that  are  two  or  three  years  old.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
there  is  little  liking  for  the  adult  fowls  the  markets  ordi- 
narily afford,  for  they  comprise  many  that  are  very  old 
and  comparatively  unfit  for  food.  But  regular  customers 
will  soon  approve  fowls  a  year  old,  which  have  been  sup- 
plied with  the  most  suitable  food,  and  brought  to  just 
the  proper  fatness,  and  delivered  freshly  killed  and 
neatly  dressed,  and  our  experience  proves  that  the  fami- 
lies upon  the  egg  route  will  order  all  that  the  establish- 
ment has  to  dispose  of.  The  high  pressure  mode  of  feed- 
ing and  turning  off  while  yet  young,  is  then  the  true 
policy. 

The  point  is,  there  is  a  certain  consumption  of  food 
to  enable  any  animal  to  keep  alive.  The  ordinary  vital 
operations,  aside  from  laying  or  increase  of  size,  de- 
mand force,  obtained  through  food — which  is  money — 
and  we  should  aim  to  support  only  such  fowls  as  are  all 
the  while  giving  returns  in  either  growth  or  eggs.  The 
long  period  of  molting  and  recovering  from  its  conse- 
quent exhaustion,  costs,  as  does  the  maintenance  of  the 
vital  fires  during  the  cold  of  winter.  It  is  a  matter  of 
quick  balancing  of  profits  and  expenses  with  animals, 
which,  like  fowls,  consume  the  value  of  their  bodies  in 
about  ten  months.  If  it  is  urged  that  the  stimulating 
diet  and  unnatural  prolificness  will  subject  the  stock  to 
disease,  the  reply  is  that  the  regimen  is  not  continued 
more  than  six  or  eight  months,  and  in  that  time  evil 
effects  will  not  ordinarily  follow,  for  the  birds  are 
allowed  freedom,  sun  and  air,  and  special  provision  is 
made  for  daily  exercise.  As  none  of  the  fowls  to  which 
this  forcing  system  is  applied,  leave  descendants,  no 
evil  effects  are  accumulated  and  entailed  upon  the  stock. 
The  layers  are  from  the  eggs  of  fowls  that  have  not  been 
subjected  to  any  such  pressure,  and  during  the  period 
of  their  principal  growth  they  have  been  given  a  nutri- 


110  AN   EGG   FARM. 

tious  but  not  especially  stimulating  food — like  a  colt  at 
pasture.  When  they  arrive  at  the  laying  age,  they  are 
then  kept  as  is  the  horse,  which  is  kept,  broken  to  work, 
and  put  to  constant  and  severe  labor,  and  fed  as  high  as 
he  will  bear. 

FOWLS   FOR    SITTERS. 

The  sitters  are  of  a  breed  chosen  for  persistence  and 
regularity  in  incubation,  fidelity  to  their  chickens,  and 
gentleness  of  disposition.  The  Plymouth  Rocks  are  our 
choice,  and  cannot  be  excelled  for  hatching  and  rearing. 
The  white  variety  is  preferred,  because  when  a  fowl  is 
dressed,  white  pin  feathers  show  less  than  colored  ones. 
Also,  as  stated  elsewhere,  there  are  occasions  when  we 
want  to  designate  individuals  by  a  dab  of  fresh  red  or 
blue  paint,  which  shows  well  on  white  plumage. 

The  sitters  are  not  kept  at  detached  stations  like  the 
layers,  for  several  reasons.  One  is,  they  should  all  be 
near  together,  because  of  the  great  amount  of  attendance 
necessary  in  connection  with  hatching.  Then  the  build- 
ings should  be  large  enough  for  the  keeper  to  enter,  in 
order  to  take  care  of  the  nests  and  chickens,  but  the 
size  of  the  structure  and  the  risk  of  jarring  eggs  will 
prevent  moving.  Nor  can  the  system  of  indirect  feed- 
ing and  no  yards  be  pursued,  for  the  sitters  should  be 
fed  at  the  attendant's  feet,  and  tamed  so  as  to  submit 
quietly  to  the  handling  they  receive  while  hatching  and 
rearing.  Their  yards  are  sufficiently  large  to  admit  of 
exercise,  and  for  the  same  reason  their  dry  grain  is 
buried  in  the  ground  or  under  straw.  In  very  cold 
weather,  they  are  confined  to  their  houses  for  warmth, 
and  are  given  a  stimulating  diet  to  promote  winter  lay- 
ing, not  so  much  for  the  value  of  the  eggs  as  to  render 
it  certain  that  there  shall  be  a  considerable  number  of 
birds  ready  to  sit  in  February,  and  many  more  in  March. 

The  fowls  chiefly  depended  upon  for  this  consist  of  the 
earliest  pullets  of  the  previous  year,  and  also  the  old 


FOWLS   FOR   LAYERS   AKD    SITTERS.  Ill 

hens  that  had  been  employed  much  of  the  time  the  pre- 
ceding summer  in  batching  two  or  three  broods.  The 
prevention  of  laying,  by  hatching  and  rearing,  causes 
birds  thus  occupied  to  lay  earlier  the  next  season.  By  a 
little  management,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  procuring 
plenty  of  offers  to  sit  from  February  to  June.  One-half 
the  sitting  stock  is  kept  until  two  years  old,  and  of  the 
pullets  of  the  sitting  class  raised  yearly,  some  are  hatched 
in  February  and  March,  and  some  in  the  first  week  in 
September,  the  better  to  secure  sitting  at  various  times 
in  the  year.  Except  in  winter,  the  sitters  should  not 
be  fed  with  a  view  to  encourage  laying,  but  the  aim 
should  be  to  keep  them  on  as  moderate  an  allowance  as 
possible,  and  not  have  them  become  poor.  Their  specific 
purpose  is  incubation,  and  they  should  be  made  to  do  as 
much  of  this"  as  possible.  By  uniting  broods,  when  a 
hen  has  hatched  one  nestful  of  eggs  she  may  be  given 
another  immediately,  and,  if  managed  rightly,  she  will 
not  be  injured  by  sitting  a  double  term.  Each  hen 
must  hatch  two  broods  per  year,  at  least,  and  some  will 
hatch  three.  In  this  way,  the  stock  of  five  hundred 
sitters  will  produce  ten  thousand  chickens  yearly,  or  an 
average  of  twenty  apiece. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE   KINDS   OF   FOOD. 

When  poultry  are  kept  upon  a  large  scale,  they  can 
obtain  but  few  insects,  for  the  latter  are  attracted  and 
supported  by  vegetation,  of  which  there  is  next  to  none 
near  the  adult  fowls,  though  care  is  taken  to  rear  a  part 
of  the  chickens  among  growing  crops.  The  ample 
grounds  around  each  station  house,  and  the  areas 
inclosed  by  the  yards  for  sitters  and  for  breeders,  give 
space  to  secure  cleanliness  and  exercise,  but  that  is  about 
all.  As  far  as  affording  insect  foraging  is  concerned,  a 
paved  court  in  a  city,  or  a  continuous  rock,  would  be 
almost  as  good.  Ground  room  out  of  doors  upon  our 
farm,  whether  inclosed  in  yards  or  not,  is  principally 
for  air,  sun  and  exercise.  These  secured,  it  matters  not 
whether  there  is  more  or  less  space,  so  long  as  there  are 
so  few  insects  to  be  procured.  We  hear  much  about  the 
number  of  fowls  proper  to  an  acre — some  say  fifty,  and 
others  one  hundred ;  but  in  order  to  give  one  hundred  a 
good  forage,  they  should  have  the  range  of  no  less  than 
four  or  five  acres,  containing  grass  and  a  variety  of 
other  crops. 

Now,  if  we  give  up  as  impracticable,  as  we  must,  pas- 
turage of  this  sort,  and  afford  nothing  but  a  field 
entirely  bald,  save  for  a  few  patches  of  clover  and  such 
other  green  stuff  as  may  be  plucked  when  young  and 
tender  by  the  birds,  under  such  circumstances  one  acre 
is  as  good  as  four.  We  go  further,  and  say  that  fifteen 
or  twenty  square  rods  of  ground,  and  the  grain  for  the 
fowls  buried  to  induce  exercise,  will  answer  the  purpose 


THE   KINDS   OF   FOOD.  113 

better  than  an  acre  without  such  an  artificial  provision 
of  natural  conditions.  But  the  feed,  which  must  he  all 
brought  to  the  fowls,  costs,  in  money  if  purchased,  or  in 
labor  if  raised  upon  the  cultivated  part  of  the  farm.  In 
fowl  keeping  upon  a  small  scale,  where  one  flock  has  for 
a  range  as  large  a  portion  of  a  farm  swarming  with 
insects  as  they  choose  to  travel  over,  food  is  obtained 
for  nothing.  The  food  for  fowls  is  more  expensive  than 
that  of  any  other  livestock,  in  proportion  to  the  value 
of  the  animals  themselves,  necessitating  economy  in  its 
choice.  There  are  many  things  "good"  for  fowls,  but 
we  must  use  principally  those  only  which  supply  all  the 
needful  nutritive  elements,  and  are,  at  the  same  time, 
the  cheapest. 

There  are  three  classes  of  articles  of  which  the  natural 
and  indispensable  diet  of  fowls  consists, — grains  or  seeds, 
green  plants  and  insects.  Corn  and  wheat  screenings — 
corn  especially — should  be  the  main  reliance  to  fill  the 
first  division  ;  boiled  potatoes  and  raw  cabbage  in  win- 
ter, and  newly  mown  grass,  clover  or  alfalfa  in  summer, 
are  the  most  suitable  vegetables,  and  chandlers'  scraps 
and  butchers'  waste,  procured  fresh,  are  the  most  eco- 
nomical animal  food,  excepting  near  the  coast,  where 
clams  and  various  sorts  of  fish  can  be  obtained  at  a 
trifling  cost.  While  depending  mostly  upon  the  above, 
because  they  are  the  best  and  cheapest,  a  great  many 
other  things  must  be  given  occasionally  for  the  sake  of 
variety,  such  as  oats,  buckwheat,  rye,  barley,  wheat  and 
brewers'  grains ;  dried  corn  fodder  and  clover  rowen  in 
winter;  various  vegetables,  such  as  carrots,  beets  and 
yellow  turnips,  boiled  and  thickened  with  corn  meal  or 
wheat  bran ;  raw  onions  chopped  fine ;  and  for  animal 
food,  sometimes  near  cities  young  calves  may  be  obtained 
from  milkmen  at  a  low  price,  and  the  carcasses  boiled 
and  fed.  This  last  remark  applies  chiefly  to  cities  at 
the  east  and  northeast. 
8 


114  A  1ST   EGG   FARM. 

In  the  cattle  regions  of  the  west,  calves  are  too  valu- 
able to  be  thus  sacrificed,  while  in  the  last  named  local- 
ity the  by-products  of  the  great  packing  houses  form  a 
ready  and  valuable  substitute.  It  must  be  an  invariable 
rule  to  give  every  bird,  whether  young  chicken,  layer, 
sitter,  or  fattening  for  the  table,  a  portion  in  each  of 
the  three  divisions, — grain,  fresh  vegetables  and  animal 
food, — every  day  in  the  year.  It  has  been  asserted  by 
some  that  there  is  no  substitute  that  can  fill  the  place  of 
insects  for  poultry.  We  say  that  beef  and  mutton,  or 
lights  and  livers,  or  fresh  butchers'  waste  of  any  kind, 
are  as  much  better  as  oats  are  better  than  grass  for 
horses  of  which  much  work  is  demanded.  A  partridge 
or  wild  jungle  fowl  can  produce  her  normal  number  of 
eggs  from  forest  fare,  but  not  such  great  numbers  as  are 
laid  by  a  Leghorn,  Hamburg  or  Houdan. 

A  portion  of  the  grain  fed  must  be  ground.  The  nat- 
ural mill  of  a  fowl's  gizzard,  containing  hard  gravel  for 
millstones,  is  capable  of  grinding  all  sorts  of  grain  per- 
fectly, but  at  too  great  expense  of  muscular  exertion 
which,  though  involuntary,  is  severe,  and  employs  force 
that  had  better  be  used  for  growing  eggs  or  flesh,  and 
therefore  meal  and  bran  have  their  uses  for  the  poulterer. 

But  the  soft  feed  idea  must  not  be  overworked.  The 
reasoning  that  a  beginner  naturally  falls  into  is  that  it 
is  a  great  pity  that  so  much  force  should  be  applied  at 
such  a  tremendous  disadvantage  in  reducing  hard  grain 
in  the  gristmills  of  the  birds  when  the  miller  can  grind 
for  thousands.  But  the  wondrously  powerful  muscles 
of  the  gizzard  are  there  to  be  used.  Always  go  cau- 
tiously in  any  plan  to  tamper  with  nature  in  feeding, 
hatching,  rearing,  or  anything  else  connected  with 
poultry.  Experiments  have  proved  that  the  "balance 
of  power,"  or  equilibrium  of  functions  in  the  fowl's 
economy  makes  the  vigorous  exercise  of  the  gizzard  very 
beneficial.  The  explanation  is,  in  part,  that  the  secre- 


THE   KINDS   OF   EOOD.  115 

tion  of  the  digestive  fluids  is  promoted  by  the  grinding 
process,  just  as  the  flow  of  saliva  in  a  person's  mouth  is 
influenced  by  the  act  of  chewing,  even  if  nothing  is 
chewed  but  a  straw.  A  good  illustration  of  the  fallacy 
of  unnatural  expedients  was  afforded  in  feeding  experi- 
ments with  hogs.  It  having  been  noticed  that  numerous 
bits,  large  and  small,  of  undigested  corn  were  passed 
from  these  animals,  when  it  had  been  fed  raw  and 
unground,  it  was  supposed  that  a  greater  amount  of 
nutriment  would  be  afforded  by  a  given  weight  of  ground 
corn,  as  compared  with  an  equal  weight  of  the  same 
grain  unground.  But  by  carefully  weighing  both  the 
corn  and  the  swine,  the  surprising  result  was  reached 
that  the  whole  grain  gave  the  greatest  gain  in  growth. 
The  powerful  muscles  of  the  hog's  jaws  imply  use,  and 
the  secretion  of  saliva  certainly,  and  the  flow  of  other 
digestive  juices  in  the  stomach  probably,  are  by  nature's 
methods,  persistently  fixed  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  connected 
with  the  workings  of  the  aforesaid  muscles. 

The  variety  in  feed  for  fowls  previously  hinted  at  is  in 
accordance  with  nature.  When  on  free  range  they  glean 
a  little  of  everything,  and  the  particular  article  most 
feasible  for  the  poulterer  to  feed  is  optional  with  him. 
Brewers'  grains,  the  waste  at  fisheries  where  great  num- 
bers of  fish  are  dressed,  chandlers'  greaves,  and  many 
other  things  are  unavailable  over  large  areas  of  our 
country.  As  for  the  "balanced  ration"  we  hear  so 
much  about  in  connection  with  all  species  of  domestic 
animals,  we  miist  feed  what  we  can  get  and  that  which 
is  the  cheapest,  which  in  our  favored  land  is  principally 
corn.  The  workings  of  the  internal  economy  of  a 
healthy  animal,  especially  an  omnivorous  animal  like 
the  fowl,  will  "balance"  the  ration  by  selecting  from 
our  national  grain  the  nutritive  elements  required  by 
the  varying  needs  of  the  system. 

Feed  millet  and  wheat  for  a  change,  but  corn,  being 


116  AN   EGG   FARM. 

the  cheapest  grain  we  have,  is  the  proper  food  for  chicks, 
and  for  laying  fowls  also,  and  you  need  pay  no  attention 
to  the  everlasting  hue  and  cry  about  this  noble  grain 
being  too  oily.  It  isn't  oily  enough,  and  for  either  man 
or  beast  is  improved  by  the  addition  of  lard  or  some 
other  form  of  fat.  Ask  one  of  these  anti-corn  cranks 
to  explain  the  almost  universal  craving  of  humanity  for 
butter  to  be  eaten  with  bread.  For  a  negro  laborer  at 
the  south,  corn  meal,  with  fat  bacon  or  pork,  makes  a  per- 
fect food,  with  the  addition  of  a  small  quantity  of  fresh 
vegetables  or  wild  fruit,  the  last  as  condiments  merely, 
or  to  furnish  acids  to  assist  digestion,  for  they  do  not 
supply  any  strictly  nutritive  elements  which  the  main 
diet  lacks.  The  corn  without  the  fat  would  be  almost 
as  incomplete  as  the  fat  without  the  corn.  When  the 
negroes  or  poor  whites  are  without  pork  to  accompany 
their  universal  diet  of  corn  bread,  they  crave  a  shorten- 
ing of  lard  in  the  latter,  and  failing  to  obtain  this,  some- 
times use  the  oily  kernels  of  black  walnuts,  or  even  the 
oil  obtained  from  certain  species  of  fish.  "But  fowls 
are  not  men,"  we  hear  some  one  exclaim.  True,  but 
both  are  omnivorous.  Fish,  flesh,  cereals,  vegetables 
and  fruit  are  the  appropriate  food  of  both;  the  digestion 
of  both  is  improved  by  the  acid  of  fresh  green  stuff,  and 
the  perfect  nourishment  of  both  demands  oily  food. 

Even  in  the  tropics  fat  meats  are  sought  by  those  who 
toil ;  bread  and  fruits  will  not  suffice.  Conversely  in 
the  Arctic  regions,  although  much  has  been  written 
about  the  fondness  of  the  Esquimaux  Indians  for  oils 
and  fats,  recent  careful  observers  have  stated  that  if 
these  Indians  can  get  lean  meat  they  will  eat  it  in  con- 
nection with  fat  in  very  nearly  the  same  proportion  as  is 
usual  among  their  white  brethren  in  temperate  zones. 

If  it  were  not  for  the  time  and  expense  involved,  corn 
boiled  or  fried  in  some  form  of  animal  or  vegetable  oil 
or  fat  would  be  the  best  possible  staple  for  fowls,  winter 


THE   KLtfDS   OF  FOOD.  117 

and  summer.  But  the  edicts  of  labor  saving  are  against 
this  diet,  as  well  as  somewhat  against  the  use  of  the 
fresh  scraps  from  the  butchers'  shops,  and  chandlers' 
greaves,  for  the  former  must  be  chopped,  and  the  latter 
are  pressed  in  cakes  so  solid  as  to  need  considerable 
preparation  before  being  used.  The  supplanting  of  the 
village  butcher*  by  the  big  packing  house,  moreover, 
makes  it  impossible  to  get  chandlers'  scrap  cake  in  many 
localities,  while  the  feasibility  of  feeding  the  packing 
house  tankage,  which  takes  its  place,  has  not  as  yet  been 
sufficiently  demonstrated.  For  one  thing,  it  is  sold  in  a 
perfectly  dry  state  and  finely  ground,  so  that  it  keeps 
well  and  can  be  fed  with  very  little  labor. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

BREEDING   AND   INCUBATION. 

The  proper  management  of  the  breeding  stock  is  a 
very  important  part  of  the  scheme,  for  there  must  annu- 
ally be  raised  a  large  supply  of  pullets  of  the  right  qual- 
ity. The  profits  of  the  establishment  depend  largely  on 
the  excellence  of  the  fowls,  and  as  they  can  be  multiplied 
very  last  from  a  chosen  few,  no  pains  should  be  spared 
to  secure  the  very  best  as  a  source  from  which  to  stock 
the  whole  farm.  There  is  but  one  way  to  do  this,  and 
that  is  to  keep  individual  birds  in  experimental  yards  in 
order  to  test  their  merits,  recording  the  degree  of  excel- 
lence and  the  pedigree  of  the  best  witli  as  much  care  as 
would  be  given  to  breeding  cows  or  horses. 

We  will  suppose  it  is  designed  to  produce  a  strain  of 
Leghorns  that  shall  excel  in  prolificness,  laying  at  an 
early  age,  and  in  other  requisites.  Procure  a  pullet 
from  A  and  a  cockerel  from  B,  and  put  them  in  yard 
No.  1  ;  purchase  of  C  and  D  one  bird  from  each,  for 
yard  No.  2,  and  so  on,  always  taking  care  that  no  speci- 
mens are  obtained  from  any  locality  where  disease  has 
prevailed.  If  there  is  any  doubt  on  this  matter,  quar- 
antine your  purchases  on  premises  at  a  distance  from 
your  main  establishment  for  two  or  three  weeks.  The 
smaller  breeding  yards  are  used  as  experimental  yards, 
and  to  allow  each  cock  a  proper  number  of  mates,  two 
or  more  Plymouth  Rock  pullets,  whose  eggs  can  be  dis- 
tinguished by  their  color,  are  added.  Give  each  Leghorn 
a  name  or  number,  and  enter  in  a  book  all  details  neces- 
sary for  testing  progress  in  improving  the  breed,  such  as 

118 


BREEDING   AND   INCUBATION.  119 

weight,  the  age  at  which  laying  commenced,  and  the 
yield  of  eggs  during  the  first  year,  at  the  expiration  of 
which  banish  all  but  the  best  hens.  The  second  year 
set  the  eggs  of  the  reserved  extra  fowls,  and  keep  the 
chickens  produced  by  each  pair  separate  from  all  others. 

At  the  age  of  five  or  six  months,  cull  out  the  most  prom- 
ising pullets  and  cockerels,  and  pair  them  for  testing 
and  recording  pedigree  and  prolificness  as  before.  By 
mating  the  produce  of  the  original  birds  from  A  and  B 
with  the  produce  of  those  from  0  and  D,  finally  the 
four  stocks  will  become  blended  in  one.  Proceed  in  this 
manner  a  number  of  years,  and  when  in  the  course  of 
time  a  very  extra  prolific  and  vigorous  hen  has  been 
found,  which  reached  full  size  and  commenced  laying 
early,  and  whose  ancestry  have  excelled  in  the  same 
respects  for  -several  generations,  as  shown  by  the  book, 
then  from  her  eggs  cocks  are  raised  from  which  to  breed 
to  replenish  the  main  stock  of  layers  at  the  itinerant 
stations.  These  cocks  are  put  in  the  larger  breeding 
yards,  each  with  a  flock  of  ten  hens,  and  no  accounts 
are  kept  of  the  prolificness  of  individuals  among  their 
descendants. 

After  new  stock  is  introduced  to  the  experimental 
yards,  as  must  be  done  yearly,  care  is  taken  for  a  series 
of  years  to  avoid  breeding  akin,  and  as  purchases  will  be 
made  from  fanciers  who,  to  fix  the  conventional  points, 
have  most  likely  bred  close  and  impaired  strength,  cross- 
ing will  immediately  give  a  decided  increase  of  vigor. 
Towards  the  last,  however,  when  sufficient  stamina  has 
been  gained,  and  the  stations  are  to  be  stocked,  close 
breeding  is  resorted  to,  even  the  mating  of  brother  with 
sisters,  which  is  the  closest  kind  of  inbreeding.  This  is 
to  increase  the  yield  of  eggs,  the  philosophy  of  the  mat- 
ter being  as  follows  :  Just  as  a  fruit  tree  girdled  or 
severely  root  pruned  will  give  a  profuse  yield  and  then 
die,  and  as  various  domestic  animals  will  for  a  short 


120  AN    EGG    FARM. 

time  be  more  prolific  after  removal  to  unaccustomed 
climates,  so  the  violent  attack  on  vitality  which  occurs 
when  there  is  in-and-in  breeding  is  met  by  an  energetic 
attempt  of  the  organism  to  propagate  in  unusual  num- 
bers and  thus  maintain  its  kind.  There  has  been  much 
confusion  on  this  point,  for  while  scientific  naturalists 
have  insisted  that  no  animal  can  thrive  under  continued 
close  breeding,  practical  poultry  keepers  have  pointed  to 
the  prolificness  of  in-and-in  bred  fowls  as  a  proof  that 
there  was  no  deterioration.  The  fact  is,  individual  per- 
fection and  rapid  increase  are,  to  a  certain  degree, 
incompatible.  Under  our  plan  of  aiming  chiefly  to 
secure  great  quantities  of  eggs,  we  purposely  give  the 
constitution  of  the  birds  a  shock  in  order  to  increase 
fecundity,  having  first,  however,  carefully  built  up,  for 
some  years,  by  careful  selection  and  good  sanitary  con- 
ditions, sufficient  strength  to  withstand  the  assault. 
This  course  may  appear  inconsistent,  but  experiments 
have  shown  us  that  it  is  correct. 

The  Plymouth  Eocks  are  bred  in  the  experimental 
yards  with  a  different  basis  of  selection.  The  best  sit- 
ters, and  those  with  the  shortest  legs  and  plenty  of  fluffy 
plumage  and  ample  wings,  are  preferred.  Note  the 
behavior  of  the  hens  that  are  bringing  up  chicks,  and 
cull  out  patterns  of  motherhood  and  set  their  eggs. 

In  the  breeding  and  experimental  yards,  the  fowls 
must  be  fed  and  managed  in  every  respect  with  the 
greatest  care.  Over-fattening  is  to  be  deprecated  above 
all  other  things,  and  may  be  avoided  by  burying  all  the 
grain,  to  make  the  birds  exercise  by  scratching.  The 
supply  of  grain  should  be  moderate ;  meat  should  be 
given  very  often  in  very  small  quantities,  and  the  allow- 
ance of  fresh  vegetables  should  be  ample.  Free  range 
would  be  very  desirable  for  all  the  breeders,  but  as  it  is 
impracticable,  scrupulous  care  must  be  taken  to  furnish 
artificially  natural  conditions.  Though  the  birds  of  the 


BREEDING   AND   INCUBATION.  121 

laying  class  in  the  experimental  yards  are  rated  accord- 
ing to  their  prolificness,  yet  the  test  is  merely  a  relative 
one,  for  they  are  not  forced  to  profuse  laying  by  stim- 
ulating feed. 

SETTING   THE   EGGS. 

Vigor  and  thrift  in  chickens  depend,  in  the  first  place, 
upon  the  quality  of  the  eggs  set.  Those  obtained  from 
breeding  stock  managed  as  described  in  the  preceding 
section,  will  hatch  strong  and  healthy  chickens,  observ- 
ing one  precaution.  Care  should  be  taken  never  to  set 
eggs  laid  near  the  close  of  the  season,  when  the  hens 
have  been  very  prolific,  for  such  will  produce  chickens 
deficient  in  vigor.  The  production  of  eggs  in  great 
numbers  is,  in  the  best  laying  breeds,  abnormal.  The 
wild  jungle  fowl,  in  common  with  all  birds  in  a  state  of 
nature,  lays  no  more  than  she  can  cover,  and  this  is  true 
of  domestic  hens  of  sitting  breeds,  that  steal  their  nests. 
It  is  the  daily  removal  of  the  eggs  by  the  keeper,  and 
the  supply  of  an  abundance  of  nutritious  food,  that 
causes  great  prolificness.  There  are  some  species  of 
wild  birds  that  will  produce  from  three  to  ten  times 
their  usual  number  of  eggs,  during  a  season  when  their 
food  is  abundant,  if  their  nests  are  continually  robbed. 
But  when  hens  lay  twenty  or  more  per  month,  for  sev- 
eral months,  the  e^gs  are  impaired.  This  is  one  reason 
why  chickens  hatched  in  summer  are  sometimes  so  defi- 
cient in  vigor,  compared  with  those  produced  in  early 
spring.  For  the  sake  of  economy  it  is  important  to 
have  as  few  non-impregnated  eggs  as  possible.  Over 
ninety  per  cent  will  be  impregnated  if  the  breeding 
cocks  are  strong  and  sprightly,  and  no  more  than  ten 
hens  are  allowed  in  a  flock.  It  is  a  good  plan  to  keep 
two  cocks  for  each  group  of  breeding  hens,  and  shut 
them  up  alternately,  one  day  at  a  time,  in  a  small  but 
comfortable  coop,  entirely  out  of  sight  of  the  hens.  The 


122  Atf   EGG   FARM. 

eggs  should  not  be  kept  more  than  three  or  four  days, 
or  ten  at  the  most,  before  being  set.  Those  laid  the 
same  day  should  be  given  to  one  hen,  so  that  the  whole 
brood  may  hatch  simultaneously,  for  new-laid  eggs 
hatch  several  hours  sooner  than  those  that  have  been 
laid  a  considerable  time  before  being  set. 

Artificial  hatching  and  rearing  are  not  economical. 
Even  if  incubators  hatch  as  great  a  proportion  of  eggs 
as  hens,  there  is  no  way  of  rearing  the  chickens  artifi- 
cially, and  securing  ventilation,  warmth,  cleanliness 
and  room  for  exercise,  without  greater  outlay  in  labor 
and  building  materials  than  is  necessary  when  hens  are 
employed,  provided  the  rigors  of  winter  are  over.  The 
cost  of  fixtures  for  heating,  and  of  fuel,  and  of  suitable 
contrivances  for  providing  exercise  for  the  young  broods, 
maks  the  plan  entirely  impracticable,  except  m  case  of 
high  prices  for  broilers ;  and  as  for  blooded  fowls,  no 
bird  designed  for  a  breeder  should  ever  be  reared  in  a 
brooder. 

The  nests  of  sitters  should  be  made  at  bottom  of  damp 
earth,  packed  to  a  concave  shape.  Make  the  sides  steep 
enough  so  that  the  eggs  will  lie  close  together  and  so 
that  the  hen  can  roll  the  outside  ones  towards  the  center 
easily,  but  do  not  pack  the  earth  so  dishing  that  eggs 
will  lie  two  deep  in  the  nest.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
place  them  upon  the  ground,  or  to  sprinkle  the  eggs 
with  water,  if  this  rule  is  followed.  It  is  proper  that 
the  eggs  should  be  in  some  way  exposed  to  moderate 
dampness  during  incubation,  as  otherwise  too  much  of 
the  water  in  their  composition  evaporates.  An  elevated 
box  furnished  with  nothing  but  dry  litter  is  not  suitable. 
Cover  the  earth  with  staw,  bruised  until  pliable,  and 
broken  short.  Long  straw  is  apt  to  become  entangled 
with  the  feet  of  the  hen,  causing  breakage  of  eggs.  It 
should  not,  however,  be  cut  by  a  machine,  because  the 
sharp  ends  of  the  pieces  will  come  in  contact  with  the 


BREEDING   AND    INCUBATIOK.  123 

skin  of  the  hen,  or  that  of  the  delicate  chickens.  In 
very  cold  weather  line  the  nest  with  feathers.  We  have 
successfully  hatched  eggs  by  preparing  a  nest  thus,  in  a 
room  where  during  part  of  the  time  of  incubation  the 
temperature  was  below  zero.  Set  hens  in  large  numbers 
at  a  time,  having  kept  some  of  them  upon  artificial  eggs 
until  all  are  ready.  Of  course,  an  entry  must  be  made 
in  a  book  of  the  family  or  strain,  and  other  particulars 
of  each  clutch. 

Examine  the  eggs  after  the  hen  has  been  upon  them 
ten  days,  by  the  well-known  method  of  placing  them 
between  the  hands  and  attempting  to  look  through  them 
at  a  strong  light ;  or  a  better  way  is  to  use  an  egg  tester, 
such  as  is  commonly  sold  by  manufacturers  of  incubators 
and  by  poultry  supply  houses  in  all  the  large  cities. 
Return  to  the  hen  only  those  eggs  that  appear  opaque  or 
clouded;  those  which  show  clear,  orange-colored  yolks, 
being  unimpregnated,  will  not  hatch,  and  may  be  used 
as  feed  for  chickens. 

"When  hatching  is  progressing,  remove  gently  once  or 
twice  the  empty  shells,  that  might  otherwise  overcap 
the  unhatched  eggs,  but  further  than  this  do  not  inter- 
fere, as  a  chicken  worth  hatching  will  contrive  to  get 
itself  hatched.  Sometimes  the  membrane  surrounding 
the  chick  is  so  tough  that  the  prisoner  cannot  get  out, 
and  in  such  a  case  the  attendant  can  afford  assistance, 
it  is  true,  but  apart  from  the  objection  of  taking  too 
much  time  to  putter  in  this  way,  there  is  another  trouble, 
namely :  By  saving  chicks  from  tough  membraned 
eggs  you  perpetuate  a  tough  membraned  breed.  When 
dealing  with  the  pedigreed  chickens  and  selecting  the 
choicest  specimens  to  put  in  special  broods  by  them- 
selves, take  those  which  not  only  get  into  the  world 
without  any  trouble,  but  those  which  hatch  out  and 
become  strong  and  lively  the  earliest.  Let  the  chicks 
remain  in  the  nest  forty-eight  hours  without  being  fed, 


124  AN   EGG    FARM. 

allowing  the  hen,  meanwhile,  water,  and  a  little  corn, 
just  a  few  kernels,  placed  in  dishes  by  the  nest.  When 
removed  to  the  coops,  put  in  each  double  brood  thirty 
chickens — less  if  it  is  cold  weather,  and  forty  sometimes 
in  summer. 

The  large  lice  that  often  infest  the  bodies  of  sitting 
hens  will  leave  for  the  young  chicks  and  gather  on  their 
heads,  unless  care  is  taken.  This  trouble  must  be  abso- 
lutely prevented.  The  liquid  lice-killer,  of  late  inven- 
tion must  be  applied  freely  to  the  edges  of  the  nest 
several  times  during  the  first  fortnight  of  the  sitting 
term,  the  wirework  over  the  top  and  front  of  the  nests 
being  covered,  meanwhile,  with  paper  or  cloth  as  closely 
as  may  be  without  stifling  the  sitters.  Or  powdered 
sulphur,  if  bought  at  wholesale  rates,  will  prove  cheap 
enough,  and  is  not  dangerous  to  the  sitters.  No  cover- 
ing of  the  nests  is  necessary  when  this  is  used,  and  it 
can  be  applied  during  the  third  week  if  desired,  or  at 
any  other  time.  Two  thorough  applications  will  utterly 
destroy  the  enemy,  an  interval  of  four  days  being  allowed 
between.  Use  two  full  handfuls  each  time.  No  matter 
how  much  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  nest  and  on  the 
straw  and  earth  at  its  sides,  it  will  not  injure  the  hen  or 
her  newly  hatched  chicks.  Apply  it  at  night  to  the 
hen,  and  then  keep  her  confined  until  the  latter  part  of 
the  next  day,  so  that  the  fumes  of  the  sulphur  can  take 
full  effect.  When  you  begin,  disturb  the  hen  slightly 
so  that  she  will  bristle  her  feathers,  and  then  from  a 
dredge  box  dust  the  sulphur  down  to  every  portion  of 
her  skin,  from  head  to  foot,  not  omitting  a  liberal  dose 
upon  all  the  eggs,  so  that  the  under  parts  of  her  body 
may  get  full  benefit. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

MANAGEMENT    OF    SITTERS. 

A  special  management  of  sitters  in  a  mild  climate,  with 
mechanical  contrivances  for  minimizing  labor,  has  already 
been  given,  and  we  will  now  describe  the  management 
of  the  incubating  hens  kept  in  the  buildings  represented 
in  Figs.  21  and  22,  and  adapted  to  cooler  latitudes. 
This  building,  like  the  one  for  the  southwest,  secures 
plenty  of  room  for  the  sitters  to  move  about  in  when  off 
their  nests.  It  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon, 
that  it  is  natural  for  a  sitting  fowl  to  run  about  very 
actively  when  she  has  left  her  nest.  She  will  always 
make  the  most  vigorous  use  of  her  legs  on  such  occa- 
sions, when  allowed  full  range. 

This  extraordinary  activity,  in  comparison  with  which 
the  movements  of  a  laying  fowl  appear  moderate  and 
sedate,  keeps  her  in  health  and  is  particularly  necessary 
in  order  that  the  bowels  shall  remain  in  good  condition. 
Without  a  great  deal  of  running  hither  and  yon,  your 
sitting  birds  will  be  afflicted  with  spells  of  constipation 
and  looseness  by  turns,  and  will  foul  the  nests,  that  is, 
a  considerable  per  cent  of  them  will,  not  all,  and  make 
so  disgusting  a  mess  that  you  will  wish  you  had  never 
seen  a  sitting  hen  in  your  life. 

The  management  of  sitters  kept  in  quarters  shown  in 
Fig.  22,  will  be  understood  by  reference  to  Fig.  40, 
which  gives  a  nest  rack  viewed  from  the  front,  there 
being  three  tiers  of  nests  with  an  alighting  board  under 
each  tier.  This  rack  may  be  seen  in  the  center  of  Fig.  22. 
The  nests  are  guarded  against  the  depredations  of  rats 

125 


126 


EGG   FARM. 


by  the  fine  wire  netting,  as  described.  The  use  of  the 
coarse  netting  that  alternates  with  the  fine,  is  as  follows  : 
Half  the  labor  of  managing  chickens  is  saved  by  confin- 
ing in  the  same  coop  two  hens  with  their  broods.  They 
will  agree  perfectly,  if  well  acquainted  beforehand.  We 
take  a  hint  from  nature  here ;  such  wild  birds  as  live 
chiefly  on  the  ground  sometimes  incubate  and  lead  their 
broods  in  company.  Wild  turkeys,  and  their  tame 
descendants  as  well,  are  an  instance  in  point.  While 
sitting,  adjoining  hens  form  a  particular  acquaintance 


FIG.  40.     MANNER  OF  NUMBERING  NESTS  FOR  SITTERS. 


through  the  coarse  meshes  of  the  netting,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  they  cannot  interfere  with  each  other,  or  roll 
the  eggs  from  one  nest  to  another. 

Without  a  special  system  of  management,  a  consider- 
able number  of  sitting  hens  cannot  incubate  and  feed  in 
the  same  apartment  without  confusion,  but  by  the  fol- 
lowing plan  each  is  made  to  know  her  own  nest  and 
return  to  it  after  feeding.  In  the  first  place,  the  laying 
hens,  before  offering  to  sit,  are  induced  to  choose  nests 
scattered  evenly  through  the  whole  building,  by  properly 
distributing  nest  eggs  and  keeping  half  the  nests  closed. 
The  nests  on  both  sides  of  the  house  are  divided  verti- 
cally into  three  sections,  one  at  each  end  of  the  room 


MANAGEMENT   OF   SITTERS.  127 

and  one  at  the  center,  by  painting  each  division  a  special 
color — the  center  black,  and  the  ends  respectively  red 
and  blue.  The  contrast  assists  the  fowls  very  much  in 
determining  their  places. 

No  more  than  three  pairs  of  sitters  should  be  allowed 
to  each  division,  or  eighteen  clutches  on  each  side  of  the 
building.  The  six  birds  belonging  in  the  middle  divi- 
sion remember  their  places  very  readily,  because  they  are 
so  far  from  either  end.  To  prevent  those  at  the  ends 
from  making  mistakes,  as  soon  as  the  laying  season  com- 
mences, one  end  wall  of  the  room  is  covered  with  straw, 
or  evergreen  boughs,  and  the  other  left  bare.  A  few 
yards  of  cheap  cotton  cloth  or  some  old  newspapers  will 
do  to  mark  a  distinction.  All  birds,  wild  or  domesti- 
cated, possess  a  keen  sense  of  locality,  and  a  few  neigh- 
boring objects  enable  them  to  recognize  their  nests.  The 
nests  that  are  used  for  hatching  are  numbered  by  affix- 
ing movable  labels,  and  every  sitter  is  distinguished  by 
having  a  feather  or  two  painted,  the  color  showing  her 
division,  and  the  position  of  the  mark,  upon  her  head, 
body,  or  tail,  signifying  a  number  corresponding  to  that 
of  her  nest.  This  enables  the  attendant  to  correct  mis- 
takes of  the  birds  (which  will,  however,  be  rare)  before 
fastening  them  in  daily.  The  colors  show  distinctly 
upon  the  white  ground  of  the  feathers.  This  plan 
appears  somewhat  whimsical,  but  it  is  simple  and  con- 
venient. Figure  40  shows  the  numbers  on  the  side  of  a 
room,  arranged  as  if  for  eighteen  clutches,  the  nests  not 
numbered  being  for  the  use  of  laying  fowls  in  the  mean- 
time. The  shading  represents  the  three  different  colors 
of  the  divisions.  The  sitters  are  assigned  places  two  by 
two  as  above  stated,  and  each  of  a  pair  of  nests  and  each 
of  the  occupants  receives  the  same  number.  Only  three 
numerals  are  necessary  to  designate  three  dozen  nests 
in  all,  in  one  house. 

The  incubating  hens  should  be  fed  early  in  the  morn- 


128  AN   EGG   FARM. 

ing,  before  any  of  the  others  are  ready  to  lay.  Those 
not  sitting  are  shut  into  the  yard  ;  the  large  doors  of 
coarse  wirework,  that  prevent  hens  from  roosting  on 
the  alighting  boards  at  night,  are  raised  at  one  side  of 
the  room  only,  and  the  pieces  of  wire  cloth  before  the 
separate  entrances  to  the  nests  of  the  sitting  hens  are 
removed  and  placed  in  front  of  the  nests  frequented  by 
the  layers.  Next,  grain  is  thrown  upon  the  ground  in 
view  of  all  the  sitters  on  that  side  of  the  room,  when  a 
call  to  which  they  are  accustomed  will  cause  nearly  all 
to  leave  their  nests.  The  laggards  that  refuse  to  leave 
are  lifted  from  the  nests  and  placed  on  the  ground. 
The  attendant  must  not  take  hold  of  the  fowl.  Push 
the  hand  gently  under  her  and  then  spread  out  the  fin- 
gers and  lift  her  slowly  off  the  eggs.  There  is  a  knack 
about  it  which  is  quickly  learned,  and,  to  beat  artificial 
incubation  all  hollow,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  our 
sitters  are  of  a  selected  strain  and  very  quiet.  When 
they  are  off,  the  large  doors  are  lowered  and  the  hens 
are  left  from  one-quarter  to  three-quarters  of  an  hour, 
according  to  the  weather,  while  the  poulterer  is  repeat- 
ing the  operation  at  the  other  buildings.  When  the 
hens  are  off,  inspect  every  nest  to  detect  broken  eggs,  or 
anything  else  amiss.  The  sitters  upon  one  side  are  all 
admitted  to  their  nests  at  once,  by  raising  the  large  wire 
doors,  and  then  shut  in  safe  from  rats  or  the  intrusions 
of  laying  hens,  by  the  separate  pieces  of  wire  cloth. 
Repeat  the  operation  at  the  nests  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  house. 

The  houses  for  sitters  should  be  located  near  the  begin- 
ning and  the  finish  of  the  route  the  wagon  takes  in 
attending  to  the  main  laying  stock,  thus  making  it  con- 
venient to  work  in  the  sitting  department  at  intervals 
through  the  day  and  give  the  sitters  a  long  spell  off  in 
warm  weather.  On  very  warm  days,  they  should  be  off 
the  nests  from  one  to  three  hours  on  a  stretch.  In  very 


MANAGEMENT   OF   SITTERS.  129 

cold  weather,  from  three  to  five  minutes  will  do,  and  in 
medium  weather,  anywhere  from  ten  minutes  to  thirty, 
forty-five  or  sixty  minutes.  Whenever  the  attendant  is 
examining  nests,  or  doing  other  work  in  the  houses  for 
sitters,  he  should  operate  the  hammers  and  feed  shelves 
as  directed  under  the  head  of  Houses  for  Sitters,  Chap- 
ter VIII.  The  sitters  will  do  much  running  besides,  on 
their  own  account.  The  layers,  which  are  in  the  same 
runways  and  buildings  occupied  by  the  sitters,  feed  at 
the  same  time  as  the  latter,  and  the  layers  have  numer- 
ous opportunities  to  feed,  while  each  batch  of  sitters  has 
one  opportunity  only.  This  is  all  right,  for  the  sitters 
should  be  rather  sparingly  fed,  in  order  to  keep  them 
keen  and  eager,  so  that  they  may  leave  their  nests 
promptly  at  feeding  time  and  not  have  to  be  removed  by 
hand.  Whenever  the  feed  shelves  are  operated,  there 
should  be  only  the  very  smallest  possible  quantity  of 
grain  jarred  down,  consisting  of  millet  or  very  fine 
cracked  corn.  The  object  is  to  confirm  the  habit,  which 
all  the  birds  will  have,  of  running  back  and  forth  to  see 
what  is  good  at  the  other  terminus  of  the  yards  between 
whiles,  when  the  attendant  is  not  present. 

9 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MANAGEMENT    OF    YOL'NG    CHICKENS. 

In  keeping  poultry  on  a  large  scale,  there  is  no  one 
thing  more  important,  or  more  difficult  to  manage,  than 
the  chicken  department.  A  failure  in  the  yearly  supply 
of  pullets,  with  which  to  recruit  the  stock  of  layers, 
would  be  fatal  to  the  whole  plan.  It  is  quite  an  easy 
matter  to  raise  nearly  every  chick  of  a  hardy  breed,  when 
there  are  but  a  few  upon  an  extensive  range,  but  it  is 
the  reverse  when  we  are  desirous  of  rearing  several  hun- 
dreds upon  an  acre,  and  there  is,  practically,  no  insect 
forage  at  all.  If  there  are  persons  who  consider  the 
occupation  of  a  poulterer  as  "small  potatoes,"  believing 
that  it  needs  less  thought  and  skill  than  to  manage  a 
cotton  mill  or  a  mercantile  establishment,  or  horses  and 
cattle,  let  them  try  once  to  raise  chickens  by  the  thou- 
sand, without  losing  money,  and  find  the  need  of  keep- 
ing their  wits  as  sharp  as  in  more  pretentious  kinds  of 
business.  Yet,  all  difficulties  may  be  surmounted  by 
thorough  management. 

To  have  strong  chickens,  it  is  necessary,  while  devel- 
oping the  desired  strain,  to  avoid  breeding  akin,  and  to 
keep  the  breeding  stock  in  a  condition  as  near  to  normal 
as  possible,  securing  for  them  sun,  air  and  exercise,  and 
avoiding  a  pampering  diet.  The  greater  the  number  of 
eggs  produced  by  a  fowl,  the  less  vitality  there  will  be  in 
each,  therefore  the  first  only  of  a  laying  should  be  set. 
Early  chickens  are  the  most  certain  to  live,  and  this  is 
because  force  is  stored  up  in  the  parent  before  laying 
commences,  sufficient  to  endow  the  first  eggs  or  chickens 

130 


MANAGEMENT   OF   YOU 


with  plenty  of  vigor,  while  later,  the  abnormal  or  artifi- 
cial prolificness  impairs  the  eggs.  In  spite  of  the  uncon- 
genial weather,  March-hatched  chickens  are  stronger 
than  those  produced  in  April,  and  the  latter,  in  turn, 
are  reared  with  greater  ease  than  those  hatched  in  May. 

But,  after  attending  to  the  above  considerations,  the 
chickens  being  hatched  and  assigned  quarters,  their 
thrift  then  depends  chiefly  on  their  diet.  Of  course, 
they  must  be  kept  clean,  dry,  free  from  vermin,  and 
protected  from  other  enemies,  quadruped  and  biped, 
and  be  allowed  space  for  exercise  in  the  sun  and  open 
air ;  but  all  these  things  will  not  suffice,  unless  animal 
food  its  artificially  provided  as  a  substitute  for  the  insects 
they  would  obtain  if  there  were  but  few  chickens  on  the 
premises.  True  enough,  chickens  can  be  reared  on 
grain  and  vegetables  alone,  because  they  are  like  man, 
omnivorous.  Children  can  be  reared  without  eating  any 
meat  at  all,  but  both  men  and  fowls  will  do  better  with 
animal  food  than  without  it.  Butchers'  meat,  such  as 
calves'  and  sheep's  plucks,  are  even  better  than  insects 
for  young  chicks,  provided  they  are  fed  plentifully,  yet 
only  a  very  little  at  a  time,  and  care  is  taken  to  alter- 
nate with  grain  and  green  vegetable  food.  Chandlers' 
greaves  may  be  used  for  chickens,  if  very  nice  and  sweet 
— the  article  varies  much  in  quality.  They  are  very 
cheap  feed,  cheaper  than  the  fresh  bits  from  the  butcher, 
but  not  as  good  for  chickens  as  the  latter.  There  must 
be  constant  vigilance  in  supplying  animal  food  regularly 
and  systematically.  The  young  of  birds  in  a  wild  state 
are  given  an  animal  diet,  even  in  cases  when,  as  they 
reach  maturity,  they  live  upon  seeds. 

The  young  of  our  domestic  birds  cannot  do  their  very 
best  upon  grain  and  vegetables  alone,  because  such 
things  cannot  be  digested  and  assimilated  fast  enough 
by  them  to  meet  the  great  demands  for  nourishment 
caused  by  their  rapid  growth.  Nature  has  provided 


133  AX   EGG   FARM. 

that  the  young  of  all  birds  shall  mature  and  become 
fledged  with  wonderful  rapidity,  in  order  that  the  period 
of  their  helplessness,  when  they  are  likely  to  be  preyed 
upon  by  their  numerous  enemies,  shall  be  short.  The 
formation  of  the  coat  of  feathers,  which  succeeds  the 
downy  covering  with  which  they  emerge  from  the  shell, 
demands  a  quick  and  certain  supply  of  nutritive  mate- 
rials, and,  in  the  case  of  domesticated  species,  the  young 
are  obliged  at  the  same  time  to  nourish  the  growth  of 
bodies  which,  owing  to  the  artificial  treatment  man  has 
subjected  their  parents  to  for  many  generations,  tend  to 
an  abnormal  size.  The  fledging  period  is  a  critical  one, 
and  the  feeding,  from  the  time  of  incubation  until  the 
wing  and  tail  feathers  are  fairly  developed,  should  all  be 
contrived  with  a  view  to  assist  the  digestive  organs  in 
changing  just  as  much  easily  assimilated  material  as  pos- 
sible into  an  abundance  of  good,  rich  blood.  It  will 
not  do  to  wait  until  the  time  of  the  most  rapid  feather- 
ing, and  then  begin  to  allow  a  generous  diet,  but  the 
systems  of  the  young  chicks  must  be  prepared  in  advance, 
by  being  stored  with  nutriment  in  every  cell  and  tissue. 
For  the  first  few  days  after  incubation,  feed  the  yolks 
of  eggs  slightly  cooked  by  being  dropped  in  hot  water, 
not  spoiled  by  being  hard  boiled.  Mix  these  with  an 
equal  quantity  of  the  crumbs  of  corn  cake,  made  by  bak- 
ing a  dough  of  Indian  meal  and  milk.  The  clear  eggs, 
that  were  put  under  sitters  and  tested  out,  will  give  you  a 
supply  of  yolks  for  this  purpose.  As  soon  as  the  chicks 
are  five  or  six  days  old,  begin  gradually  to  substitute  boiled 
plucks  and  livers,  run  through  a  meat  cutter,  in  place 
of  the  egg  yolks,  and  the  Indian  meal  may  be  cooked  as 
a  thick  mush,  and  to  stimulate  appetite  by  variety,  add 
sometimes  wheat  bran  and  ground  oats.  Also,  cracked 
corn  and  wheat  screenings,  raw,  may  be  introduced.  All 
they  will  eat  of  tender  grass,  chopped  fine,  and  boiled 
potatoes,  nicely  mashed,  should  be  given.  The  grass 


MASTAGE3IEXT   OF  YOTOG   CHICKEXS.  133 

may,  of  course,  be  discontinued  when  the  birds  are 
strong  enough  to  pluck  it  for  themselves.  Millet  seed 
is  excellent  for  young  chicks,  and  for  fowls  of  all  ages 
for  that  matter,  but  it  is  more  expensive  than  corn  in 
proportion  to  the  nutrition  it  contains ;  the  latter, 
cracked,  and  the  meal  and  also  the  coarser  particles 
sifted  out,  is  the  main  reliance  for  encouraging  young 
chickens  to  range  for  the  sake  of  exercise  a  considerable 
distance  from  the  coops  containing  the  mother  hens. 

Occasionally,  the  broadcast  sower  should  make  a  trip 
parallel  to  the  row  of  small  chicken  coops  at  a  distance  of 
three  or  four  to  eight  or  ten  rods,  according  to  the  age 
of  the  chicks,  and  scatter  a  slight  sprinkling  of  fine 
cracked  corn.  It  is  not  necessary  to  do  this  every  day, 
for  the  remembrance  of  what  they  have  previously  found 
will  cause  them  to  ramble  freely,  especially  as  there  will 
be  a  few  insects  on  the  range,  even  if  not  many.  It  is 
very  important  that  the  chicken  coops  shall  be  set  in  a 
single  row  and  at  a  distance  from  other  fowls,  so  that 
all  the  insect  forage  possible  may  be  secured  for  them, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  they  will  be  encouraged  to  ram- 
ble far  and  wide,  exercise  and  employment  of  their 
natural  hunting  faculties  being  as  beneficial  as  the  forage 
itself.  If  you  double  up  the  rows,  even  if  they  are  50 
or  100  ft.  apart,  the  chicks  will  not  do  as  well.  Locate 
the  row  near  your  crops,  for  they  will  do  no  damage 
before  weaning.  Crops  grow  insects  ;  insects  grow  chicks. 

The  chicks  of  the  main  laying  stock  should  be  kept  at 
a  place  separate  from  the  selected  pedigree  chicks  and 
those  of  the  breed  of  sitters,  because,  as  the  former  grow 
toward  maturity,  they  should  gradually  receive  feed  more 
forcing  and  stimulating  than  the  latter.  The  adult 
fowls  designed  for  breeders  should  be  fed  sparingly,  and 
forced  to  literally  scratch  hard  for  a  living ;  the  sitters 
must  be  allowed  a  stimulating  diet  in  winter,  to  induce 
them  to  lay  so  as  to  be  ready  to  sit  early  in  the  season, 


134 


AX    EGG    FARM. 


FIG.  41.      LAID  BY  HENS. 


but  during  the  summer  and  fall  their  feed  should  be 
such  as  to  restrain  rather  than  promote  laying,  while 
the  fowls  of  the  main  stock  should  be  crowded  all  their 
lives  without  any  intermission,  by  plying  them  with  a 
diet  growing  richer  and  more  stimu- 
lating, because  containing  a  greater 
proportion  of  chandlers'  scraps,  or 
an  equivalent  in  some  other  kind  of 
animal  food,  the  older  they  become. 
Cayenne  pepper  is  the  cheapest  and 
best  stimulant,  with  ground  mus- 
tard and  ginger  for  a  change.  Be- 
gin with  a  very  little,  and  increase 
the  quantity  gradually,  and  be  sure 
to  have  these  fiery  condiments  mixed  evenly  and  uni- 
formly through  the  mass  of  soft  feed,  by  first  scalding 
them  in  boiling  water  and  mixing  the  infusion,  dregs 
and  all,  with  meal,  mashed  potatoes,  or  whatever  the 
material  of  which  the  mess  consists. 

The  chicks  of  the  breed  the  main  laying  stock  com- 
prises are  all  that  receive  the  indirect  feeding  previously 
described,  which  is  another  reason  for  locating  them  at 
a  part  of  the  ground  distant  from  the  pedigree  chicks 
and  sitting  breed  chicks,  but  all,  irrespective  of  breed, 
may  be  housed  at  night  in  the  "A  coop,"  Fig.  33,  a  pat- 
tern which  the  writer's  experience  of  over  forty  years 
of  use  has  not  enabled  him  to  improve,  cost  being  con- 
sidered. To  secure  its  full  advantages,  however,  it  must 
be  used  properly.  The  chief  foes  of  young  chicks  are 
wet  and  rats.  Unless  the  coop  has  a  floor,  the  hen  will 
scratch  holes  in  the  ground,  which  a  hard  rain  will  fill 
with  water,  and  unless  the  floor  is  movable  it  cannot  be 
readily  cleaned.  To  arrange  for  the  night,  to  avoid 
rats  and  at  the  same  time  give  air,  slide  the  coop  toward 
the  small  rear  door  before  pegging  down  the  lid,  a,  as 
previously  directed.  This  will  give  a  crack  at  the  edge 


MANAGEMENT   OF   YOUNG   CHICKENS.  135 

of  the  floor  at  the  rear  of  the  coop  and  also  at  the  front, 
too  small  for  rats  to  enter,  and  the  animal  heat  will 
cause  cold  air  to  flow  in  at  the  very  bottom  of  the  coop, 
while  comparatively  warm  air  will  escape  near  the  top. 
While  the  small  A  coops  are  good  enough  for  ordinary 
use,  yet  some  early  chicks  of  the  classes  of  breeders  and 
sitters,  which  are  to  be  reared  under  the  most  favorable 
auspices  possible,  are  housed  at  scattered  stations  in  the 
cellars  vacated  in  early  spring  by  the  early-hatched  pul- 
lets, and  so  have  the  advantage  of  a  wide  range.  The 
house  for  pullets,  a  description  of  which  has  been  given, 
is  illustrated  by  Fig.  13.  When  this  pullet  house  is 
moved  off  from  the  cellars,  the  latter  are  covered  by 
some  of  the  earth  platforms,  Fig.  6,  a  glazed  sash  being 


FIG.  42.    EGGS  LAID  BY  PULLETS. 


temporarily  hinged  to  one,  after  removing  some  boards, 
for  a  door.  The  platforms  are  laid  two  deep,  as  shown 
in  Fig.  48.  When  the  chicks  are  old  enough  to  run  in 
and  out  of  the  underground  passage  in  the  wall  of  earth 
in  the  foreground  of  this  cut,  they  are  restricted  at  first 


136 


AX   EGG    FABAI. 


to  a  small,  lath  covered  pen,  until  they  have  learned  the 
way,  and  afterward  allowed  to  range  where  they  choose, 
the  mother  hen  being  confined  as  before.  No  hen  can 
ever  be  allowed  to  run  at  large  with  her  brood,  beneficial 
as  the  freedom  is  to  her  and  her  younglings,  for,  under 


FIG.  43.     SHELTEK  FOR  CHICKENS. 


this  system,  the  practice  and  regularity  cannot  be  secured 
at  all  times  and  in  all  changes  of  weather,  which  are 
essential  in  managing  a  large  plant. 

Shade  is  very  essential  in  summer,  for  both  fowls  and 
chicks,  especially  for  the  latter,  and  is  provided  by  prop- 
ping on  stakes  some  of  the  earth  platforms,  otherwise 
idle,  as  shown  at  A,  Fig.  43.  The  basement  parts  of 


MANAGEMENT   OF   YOUNG   CHICKENS. 


137 


the  small  coops,  Fig.  36,  not  needed  for  weaned  chicks 
till  later  in  the  summer,  can  also  be  propped  up  and 
covered  with  boards  or  straw,  as  at  B,  Fig.  43.  In  the 
foreground  of  this  cut,  E  is  a  larger  shelter  from  the 
sun,  such  as  will  answer  for  either  chicks  or  layers,  at 
the  itinerant  stations,  made  by  propping  a  winter  dust- 
bin, B,  Fig.  11,  in  a  slanting  position,  nailing  lightly 


FIG.  44.      TEMPORARY   SHELTERS. 


a  few  boards  or  poles  across  and  thatching  with  the 
straw  mats  that  were  used  on  the  roofs  of  winter  houses. 
Spare  floors  to  chicken  coops,  Fig.  34,  may  be  arranged 
as  at  C,  Fig.  44,  and  in  the  same  cut  D  represents  a 
shade  made  of  rails  and  straw  that  were  used  in  winter 


138  AN   EGG   FARM. 

quarters,  Fig.    11,  with  brush  or  cornstalks  added   to 
keep  the  wind  from  blowing  the  straw  away. 

While  speaking  of  shade  for  young  chicks,  it  may  be 
said  here  that  for  shade  for  layers  at  the  colony  stations, 
bins,  E,  Fig.  43,  may  be  drawn  upon  the  ground  by  the 
team,  occasionally,  so  as  to  never  be  very  far  from  the 
building  when  the  latter  is  shifted,  and  some  of  the  earth 
platforms  are  moved  about  for  the  same  purpose,  when 
not  employed  in  the  dry  earth  harvest.  By  using  plat- 
forms at  one  station,  straw  mat  screens  at  another,  and 
movable  booths  of  evergreen  boughs  at  a  third,  neigh- 
boring premises  are  made  to  look  unlike.  In  this  way, 
all  the  various  fixtures  in  the  whole  establishment  are 
kept  in  use  summer  and  winter,  and  chickens  and  grown 
fowls  are  sheltered  from  sun,  wind  and  rain  under 
structures  that  afford  a  great  deal  of  ground  room,  which 
is  what  counts,  but  they  are  low  like  the  houses,  and, 
therefore,  made  with  but  little  lumber. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


ADDITIONAL    BUILDINGS. 

The  building  which  contains  the  cook  room  must  also 
store  the  grain  and  vegetables,  where  they  will  be  handy, 
and  dry  earth  is  kept  at  the  same  place,  because,  in  con- 
nection with  other  apartments,  a  receptacle  may  be  most 
economically  constructed,  which  shall  admit  of  labor- 
saving  in  unloading  and  reloading  stuff  which  is  so  heavy. 

The  south  eleva- 
tion of  the  granary 
and  cook  house,  Fig. 
45,  shows  the  manner 
of  making  a  "side- 
hill  barn  "  on  nearly 
level  ground,  the  ob- 
ject being  to  drive 
the  wagon  containing 
dry  earth  to  as  high 
a  point  in  the  build- 
ing as  possible.  The 
driveway  is  made  of 
masonry  and  earth, 
excepting  near  the 
building,  where  a 
wooden  bridge  is  sub- 
stituted, shown  also 

.       „.  FIG.  45.     SOUTH  ELEVATION. 

m  Fig.  46.     A  corre- 
sponding driveway  at  the  north  end,  shown  in  Fig.  46, 
enables  the  team  to  pass  out  without  backing.     The  dot- 

139 


140 


EGG   FARM. 


ted  lines  in  Fig.  46  indicate  the  floors,  A,  A,  which  fol- 
low the  inclination  of  the  driveways  until  the  level  space, 


B,  is  gained  at  the  center,  where  is  a  trap,  (7,  through 
which  the  earth  falls  into  a  hopper-shaped  chamber,  as 
mentioned  on  Page  32.  For  filling  the  corners  there  are 


ADDITIONAL  BUILDINGS.  141 

additional  trap-doors  at  D,  D.  This  chamber  or  bin 
slopes  at  the  bottom,  the  position  of  a  part  of  which  is 
shown  by  the  dotted  lines,  E9  E,  which  converge  at  the 
point,  F,  where  is  a  slide-door,  through  which  the  con- 
tents are  discharged  to  be  carried  to  the  stations,  the 
wagon  being  backed  for  the  latter  purpose  through  the 
doors,  G,  G.  West  of  the  room  where  the  dry  earth  is 
discharged  into  the  wagon,  is  a  bin  for  potatoes,  etc., 
built  of  thick  stone  walls,  to  prevent  freezing.  This 
bin  is  filled  from  above  by  driving  a  load  of  roots  to  the 
floor,  B,  and  allowing  them  to  slide  down  an  inclined 
plane.  The  cook  room,  with  which  the  window,  H, 
communicates,  occupies  the  north  part  of  the  lower 
story,  of  which  Fig.  47,  Page  142,  gives  a  ground  plan. 
/,  cook  room,  with  its  outside  (north)  door,  J.  K, 
grain  bin,  entered  at  the  door,  L.  The  root  bin  is  at  M3 
and  entered  at  the  door,  N.  The  cook  room  is  used  in 
winter  as  a  place  in  which  to  dress  fowls,  and  contains 
also  a  work  bench  with  tools.  The  cooking  apparatus 
is  at  0.  There  is  no  chimney  proper,  but  only  a  chim- 
ney top  supported  by  strong  timbers  near  the  peak.  A 
brick  flue  rises  from  0  perpendicularly  as  far  as  the 
eaves,  terminated  by  an  ordinary  stovepipe,  which  con- 
ducts the  smoke  to  a  large  drum  in  the  upper  room,  and 
from  thence  to  the  chimney  top.  In  this  way  the  garret 
is  warmed  for  drying  feathers,  or  for  rearing  a  few  win- 
ter chicks  if  desired.  As  shown  in  Fig.  45,  the  south 
wall  of  this  nursery  apartment  is  well  glazed.  The 
dimensions  of  the  building  are  36x30  ft.,  with  18  ft. 
posts. 

Two  buildings  remain  to  be  described.  Figure  49  rep- 
resents a  hospital ;  that  is,  a  building  that  can  be  used 
as  such  in  an  emergency.  It  is  14  ft.  wide,  60  ft.  long, 
and  8  ft.  high  at  the  peak.  There  is  a  passage  2  1-2  ft. 
wide,  running  its  whole  length  the  north  side,  which 
communicates  with  the  twelve  rooms  into  which  the 


142 


AN   EGG   FARM. 


building  is  divided  by  wire  partitions.  The  glazed  roof 
is  upon  the  south  side.  There  is  an  outside  door  (not 
shown  in  the  figure)  in  the  north  wall,  opposite  the 


FIG.  47.     GROUND  PLAN. 


chimney,  for  convenience  in  attending  the  fire.  The 
building  is  warmed  by  coal,  a  fire-chamber  of  brick  and 
a  boiler  and  hot-water  pipes  being  used. 

It  is  injurious  to  animals  to  breathe  the  fumes  that 
will  escape  when  it  is  attempted  to  warm  a  room  by 
passing  a  smoke-pipe  through  it,  leading  from  a  coal 
fire,  unless  the  chimney  is  quite  high,  causing  a  strong 
draft,  which  is  one  reason  for  preferring  hot  water,  and 
another  is  that  the  risk  of  overheating  is  not  so  great 
(for  water  cannot  be  heated  above  a  certain  temperature 
without  turning  to  vapor  or  steam),  and  a  third  reason 
is  that  less  fuel  is  needed  with  hot  water  than  without. 
The  original  cost  of  hot-water  fixtures  is  double,  it  is 
true,  but  they  are  kept  in  repair  with  hardly  the  expense 
of  a  cent,  and  cause  a  saving  of  fully  half  the  fuel.  The 
ventilator  at  the  top  of  the  building  has  immovable 
blinds  at  its  sides,  and  horizontal  doors  at  its  bottom, 
opening  upwards,  and  closing  by  their  own  weight, 


ADDITIONAL  BUILDINGS. 


143 


moved  by  means  of  cords  and  pulleys,  regulate  the  egress 
of  air. 

At  the  north  side  of  the  building  are  a  number  of 
small  windows,  covered  with  ordinary  adjustable  blinds, 
for  the  admission  of  fresh  air,  and  in  summer  the  doors 
at  both  ends  of  the  structure  may  be  opened,  as  in  the 
illustration,  and  the  windows  in  the  roof  should  be 
partly  curtained.  This  building  is  used  for  early  chick- 
ens, and  numerous  other  purposes,  it  not  being  expected 
to  have  much  occasion  to  take  care  of  sick  fowls,  for  the 
true  plan  is  to  prevent  disease  by  inducing  constant 
exercise  by  scratching,  by  allowing  sun,  air,  good  food, 
and  breeding  from  vigorous  stock. 

Never  have  any  hospital  at  all  on  your  premises  for 
birds  affected  with  roup,  cholera  or  other  serious  epi- 


FJG.  48.— QUARTERS  FOR  EARLY  CHICKENS. 

demic  or  infectious  disease.  In  time,  it  is  confidently 
believed,  some  preventive,  by  inoculation  or  otherwise, 
will  be  provided  by  science  to  ward  off  the  two  dire 


144  AN   EGG   FARM. 

plagues,  chicken  cholera  and  roup ;  but  till  that  happy 
era  arrives  the  inflexible  rule  for  treatment  of  diseased 
birds  should  be :  Keep  a  sharp  hatchet,  and  use  when 
the  disease  first  appears.  The  foundation  principle 
must  be  to  secure  and  maintain  health  and  vigor.  In 
introducing  new  blood,  it  had  best  be  done  by  procuring 
eggs  for  hatching.  But  in  the  rare  cases  when  it  may 
be  advisable  to  add  live  birds  to  the  breeding  stock,  they 


FIG.  49.— HOSPITAL  FOR  EGG  FARM. 


should  first  be  quarantined  at  a  distance  from  the  main 
premises  and  frequently  and  carefully  inspected,  before 
being  added  to  the  flocks. 

Of  late,  great  advances  have  been  made  in  the  matter 
of  destroying  the  parasitic  vermin  on  fowls,  and  these 
pests  will  never  again  prove  the  terror  to  poultry  men 
that  they  once  were.  The  mites  that  infest  the  nests 
and  perches,  we  have  long  known  how  to  prevent. 
During  sixteen  consecutive  years  of  fowl  keeping  in 


ADDITIONAL  BUILDINGS.  145 

Nebraska,  not  one  of  the  minute  vermin,  the  so-called 
"little  red  spider  lice,"  has  been  found  on  the  perches 
in  the  writer's  fowl  houses.  Also  the  scaly  leg  parasite, 
while  not  yet  entirely  eradicated,  has  been  readily  con- 
trolled. But  the  large  vermin,  which  cling  to  the 
bodies  of  the  adult  fowls,  have,  in  years  past,  proved 
obstinate,  unless,  indeed,  Persian  insect  powder  was 
applied  in  quantity  too  expensive  for  ordinary  use.  But 
now,  thanks  to  the  discovery  of  the  modern  cheap  liquid 
lice  killers,  the  bodies  of  the  birds  need  no  longer  be  the 
hosts  of  these  disgusting,  creeping  things.  There  is  no 
such  thing  as  spontaneous  generation  of  lice,  as  every 
well  informed  person  knows  nowadays,  and  the  goal  we 
propose  as  attainable  is  to  eradicate  entirely  parasitic 
vermin  from  a  business  stock  of  poultry,  by  thorough 
and  persistent  quarantine  and  treatment  of  the  new  pur- 
chased fowls  before  introduction  to  the  breeding  yards, 
thus  keeping  the  aforesaid  pest  from  restocking. 

56 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE   INTENSIVE   PLAN. 

The  condensed  or  intensive  plan  is  to  the  itinerant 
colony  or'  extensive  system  of  poultry  keeping  what  a 
greenhouse  is  to  ordinary  farming.  In  the  former,  as 
many  fowls  or  chicks  as  practicable  are  yarded  in  a  small 
space  and  also  kept  much  of  the  time  under  a  roof, 
while  in  the  latter,  comparatively  few  are  allowed  to  the 
acre  of  ground  and  they  are  kept,  for  the  most  part, 
without  yards,  and  never  under  a  roof  when  it  can 
be  avoided. 

During  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  the  interest  in 
pure  bred  fowls  has  been  wonderful,  and  the  money 
spent  in  disseminating  breeds  enormous  in  amount. 
Poultry  associations  and  poultry  exhibitions  have  multi- 
plied and  the  hen  'fever  has  spread  like  wild  fire.  Mil- 
lions of  eggs  of  pure  bred  birds,  for  hatching  purposes, 
have  been  sold  and  shipped  to  every  corner  of  the  land. 
But  among  the  results  have  been  disappointment,  cha- 
grin, and  loss  immeasurable.  Thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  dollars  have  been  squandered.  Though 
the  use  of  the  scratching  bin  or  shed  has  been  well 
understood,  and  though  it  has  been  very  generally 
provided  of  late  years,  it  has  proved  impracticable  for 
the  ordinary  fancier  to  mix  the  grain  and  straw  often 
enough  to  induce  the  needful  amount  of  exercise.  He 
cannot  stand  around  all  day  to  secure  the  exercise  of  a 
few  fowls,  while  if  the  large-scale  man  goes  the  rounds 
repeatedly  to  his  hundreds  of  flocks,  with  rake  or  pitch- 
fork in  one  hand  and  a  basket  of  grain  in  the  other,  and 

146 


THE    INTENSIVE    PLAN.  147 

opens  and  shuts  numbers  of  doors,  the  labor  involved 
will  intercept  all  or  most  of  the  profits. 

The  experience  of  the  writer  is  corroborated  by  that 
of  a  great  crowd  of  poultry  men,  to  the  effect  that  yarded 
fowls,  as  they  have  been,  not  as  they  might  be,  are  fail- 
ures as  regards  hatching  and  rearing  purposes.  Such  a 
yard  as  is  usually  provided  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare. 
For  a  few  generations,  enough  chickens  can  be  hatched 
and  reared  to  "keep  the  breed  along,"  but  if  the  young 


FIG.  51.— TEDDER  FOR  STIRRING  LITTER.— (SEE  PAGE  20.) 

as  well  as  the  adult  birds  are  confined,  the  end  is  exter- 
mination, unless,  as  is,  happily,  generally  the  case,  the 
birds  are  allowed  range  a  part  of  the  year,  or  resort  is 
had  to  a  farm  station  for  an  intermediate  generation  or 
two,  to  restore  wasted  vitality. 

Selling  eggs  at  long  prices  for  hatching  from  fowls 
yarded  in  the  usual  manner  is  an  offense.  For  twenty 
years  and  longer,  while  yards  have  been  common,  the 
same  old  cry  has  been  repeated  :  "The  season  has  been 
bad  for  hatching."  But  every  season  always  will  be  a 
bad  one  when  the  layers  take  insufficient  exercise.  It 


1-48  AN   EGG   FARM. 

does  not  need  that  the  breeding  stock  should  be  actually 
sick,  in  order  to  impress  a  feeble  and  degenerate  condi- 
tion on  the  eggs.  The  fowls  may  be  in  apparently  per- 
fect health,  yet  their  eggs  may  have  become  impaired. 

The  following,  from  a  late  issue  of  The  California 
Poultry  Tribune,  would  have  been  appropriate  any  and 
every  season  since  the  advent  of  pure  bred  fowls  in  the 


, 


ifeii^    "  f-  S"^^^^%^5I 


FIG.  52.— THE  HARVEST. 

United  States  caused  the  enclosed  poultry  yards  to  super- 
sede the  open  range  enjoyed  by  the  birds  of  the  former 
generations  of  poultry  keepers  : 

"  Eggs,  as  a  rule,  hatched  but  poorly  this  last  season,  and  I  think  it 
a  genenvl  complaint  throughout  the  country.  There  seemed  to  be  lack 
of  fertility  of  eggs,  and  chicks  that  managed  to  get  out  of  the  shell 
appeared  weak,  lacked  vitality ;  in  consequence,  early  show  specimens 
are  scarce  and  will  bring  good  prices  for  the  lucky  owners." 

The  non-hatching  has  been  hastily  attributed  to  the 
weather,  but  the  weather  never  hinders  the  hen  which 
runs  at  large  and  steals  her  nest  and  is  actively  engaged 
the  greater  part  of  the  day  in  foraging  for  a  living,  from 
hatching  twelve  or  thirteen  chicks  out  of  a  nestful  of 
thirteen  eggs.  The  feed  has  been  another  scapegoat.  Every 
combination  of  animal  food,  green  stuff  and  cereals  has 


THE   INTENSIVE   PLAN.  149 

been  tried,  but  no  ration  has  been  found  that  will  neu- 
tralize the  bad  effects  which  the  lack  of  exercise  of  the 
laying  birds  produces  on  their  eggs. 

In  the  first  edition  of  "An  Egg  Farm,"  the  impor- 
tance of  inducing  exercise  by  scratching  was  inculcated 
for  the  first  time  in  print.  The  reader  is  reminded  that 
poultry  literature  is  mostly  of  a  very  modern  date. 
There  have  been,  down  to  the  present  time,  about  two 
hundred  books  and  pamphlets  printed  on  poultry,  in  the 
English  language,  but  when  An  Egg  Farm  was  first 
published,  a  small  but  excellent  poultry  book  by  Wright, 
another  by  Geyelin,  and  a  few  other  books,  very  meager 
ones,  comprised  all  the  works  on  fowl  keeping  which 
had  then  attained  any  considerable  circulation,  and 
nowhere  had  the  importance  of  scratching,  for  the  sake 
of  exercise,  been  mentioned — though  the  experience  of 
people  with  flower  beds  had,  for  long  centuries  previous, 
shown  that  the  hen  is,  by  nature,  a  scratching  animal, 
as  inveterate  in  parting  the  soil  as  is  a  duck  in  parting 
the  water,  and  more  so,  in  some  cases,  since  the  fond- 
ness for  swimming  has  been  bred  out  of  some  strains  of 
Pekin  ducks,  by  withholding  bathing  privileges  from 
them  for  many  consecutive  generations.  Since  our  first 
recommendation,  in  the  original  edition  of  An  Egg  Farm, 
as  above  stated,  to  furnish  a  scratching  pile  or  scratch- 
ing bin,  the  modern  voluminous  fowl  literature  of  the 
country,  including  the  poultry  columns  in  the  numerous 
agricultural  periodicals,  has  reiterated  the  advice  until 
fowl  keepers  have  become  well  indoctrinated  on  this  point. 

But,  while  the  use  of  horserake  and  hay  tedder,  for 
the  free  range  colony  system,  was  pointed  out  in  the 
first  edition,  no  better  way  was  shown  for  mixing  the 
grain  and  straw,  in  yards  or  buildings,  than  to  do  it  by 
hand.  We  described  the  best  way  we  then  knew.  The 
advent  since,  of  simple  mechanical  apparatus,  contrived 
by  the  author,  to  accomplish  the  mixing,  constitutes  a 


150  AN   EGG  FARM. 

revolution  in  intensive  poultry  keeping.  By  the  use  of 
this  invention,  the  greatest  objections  to  keeping  poul- 
try in  confinement  disappear,  and  by  means  of  the  new 
system  yarded  birds  produce  strongly  vitalized  eggs, 
that  hatch  well  and  make  healthy,  vigorous  chicks.  Now, 
even  in  quite  narrow  quarters,  both  the  parent  stock  and 
the  young  chicks  can  be  made  to  take  as  much  exercise 
as  they  naturally  do  when  running  at  large,  and  more, 
in  fact.  The  apparatus  is  to  birds  in  confinement  what 
the  wheel  is  to  a  squirrel  in  a  cage. 

As  we  have  pointed  out,  it  is  utterly  impracticable  to 
mix  straw  and  feed  together  by  hand  often  enough  to 


FIG.  53.— WEEDER  AND  SOIL  STIRRING  IMPLEMENT. 

keep  the  flock  of  fowls  well  employed.  It  must  be  done 
often  or  it  will  not  amount  to  much,  and  it  must  also  be 
done  right ;  that  is,  there  must  be  a  correct  proportion 
between  the  quantity  of  grain  and  the  quantity  of  straw. 
If  too  much  straw  is  used,  the  fowls  become  discouraged 


THE   INTENSIVE   PLAN.  151 

and  will  not  work  at  all,  and  if  too  much  grain  is  used, 
their  appetite  is  soon  satiated  and  they  become  listless 
and  inactive  thereafter  for  the  remainder  of  the  day. 
When  a  judicious  scratching  pile  has  been  made,  for 
young  chicks  or  old  birds,  no  matter  which,  it  will  be 
found  that  they  will  work  it  over  in  good  thorough  style 
in  just  about  twenty  minutes.  A  device  for  mixing  the 
grain  and  straw  automatically  is  evidently  needed,  so 
that  it  can  be  done  often  and  labor  saved. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    EXERCISER. 

We  have  already  shown  some  simple  contrivances  for 
inducing  fowls  to  run,  in  the  few  cases  under  the  exten- 
sive system  where  it  was  necessary  or  convenient  to 
employ  yards  or  runways,  but  to  induce  them  to  scratch 
is  another  matter,  which  becomes  very  important  under 
the  intensive  system,  where  yarding  is  the  rule  and  open 
range  the  exception.  While  formerly  one  attendant 
could  properly  manage  hundreds  of  yarded  fowls,  he  can 
now  tend  thousands  by  means  of  the  new  machine, 
which  is  called  the  Exerciser. 

In  its  invention,  the  problem  was  to  devise  a  recepta- 
cle, suspended  over  the  straw,  to  hold  grain  enough  for 
a  day,  or  for  several  days,  if  desired,  inaccessible  to  rats 
and  mice,  and  to  discharge  a  little  and  often  upon  the 
straw  beneath ;  for,  as  stated,  if  too  much  is  distributed 
at  a  time,  the  birds  will  become  cloyed  and  cease  work- 
ing, and  if  too  little  is  dropped  they  will  also  cease, 
because  they  become  discouraged. 

The  dropper  or  distributer,  which  is  more  accurate 
and  precise  than  the  feed  shelf  already  described,  and  is, 
therefore,  particularly  adapted  to  feeding  chicks  in 
brooders,-  is  constructed  as  follows  :  Let  e,  Fig.  58,  rep- 
resent a  strip  of  tin,  3  ft.xS  in.  ;  a  is  a  strip  of  wire 
cloth,  3  ft. x3  5-8  in.,  with  mesh  8  to  the  inch;  #,  c, 
and  d  are  strips  of  wire  cloth  of  the  same  length  and 
width  as  e,  and  b  has  mesh  10  to  the  inch,  c  has  12  and 
d  14  to  the  inch.  All  these  may  be  ordered  at  any  hard- 
ware store.  Figure  59  shows  these  strips,  a,  b,  c,  d, 

152 


THE   EXERCISER. 


153 


and  e,  all  soldered  together  in  a  regular  gradation, 
according  to  sizes,  the  finest  mesh  being  soldered  to  the 
tin.  Let  e  lap  over  d,  and  d  lap  over  e,  and  so  on ;  no 
need  of  soldering  continuously — a  drop  of  solder  every 


G  in.  will  do.  There  is  a  little  knack  in  soldering  such 
material.  Press  the  strips  flat  on  a  floor  or  board,  allow- 
ing each  to  lap  at  one  edge  1-4  in.  over  its  neighbor. 
You  hold  the  wire  cloth  down  firmly,  by  pressing  end- 


154 


EGG   FARM. 


wise  with  a  small  stick,  close  by  where  the  solder  is  put, 
so  that  the  wire  cannot  spring,  while  another  person 
does  the  soldering.  In  three  seconds  the  solder  will 
chill,  and  you  move  your  stick  5  or  6  in.  to  the 
next  point. 

Figure  61  shows  one  of  the  end  pieces  to  the  dropper 
or  feed  cylinder.     It  may  be  either  octagonal,  square  or 


FIG.  59.  STRIPS  SOLDERED  TOGETHER. 


circular,  and  if  of  the  latter  shape,  should  be  five  and 
three-quarters  inches  in  diameter,  being  cut  from  a  seven- 
eighths  inch  board.  It  has  a  hole,  /,  in  the  center,  to 
receive  an  iron  shaft,  consisting  of  a  half-inch  iron  pipe. 
The  shaft  may  be  of  any  length  desired,  and  to  it  may 
be  attached  as  many  cylinders  as  needed  to  feed  a  row  of 
separate  flocks  in  a  long,  narrow  house.  Figure  60 
shows  how  the  tin  and  wire  of  Fig.  59  are -fastened  to 


THE     EXERCISER. 


155 


the  end  piece,  Fig.  61.  In 
Fig.  60,  a  represents  the  tin 
which  is  tacked  closely  at 
the  bottom  of  the  cylinder, 
but  flares  out  into  a  flange 
at  a.  Above  a,  there  .is  an 
open  space,  through  which 
the  cylinder  is  charged  with 
grain.  The  flange  assists  in 
putting  in  the  proper  quan- 
tity quickly,  the  grain  slid- 
ing down,  of  course,  so  as  to 
rest  on  the  tin  at  the  un- 
derside of  the  cylinder.  In 
Fig.  60,  the  cylinder  is  shown 
in  correct  position  for  fill- 
ing. The  cylinders  are  fast- 
ened to  the  shaft  so  as  to 
move  with  it,  not  on  it. 
The  grain  should  be  in  the 
form  of  small  particles  of 
assorted  sizes,  from  the  di- 
mensions of  a  pinhead  to  a 
kernel  of  wheat.  Cracked 
corn  with  the  meal  sifted 
out  is  excellent. 

The  cylinder  should  be 
made  to  perform  only  about 
a  hundredth  of  a  revolution 
at  a  time,  the  motion,  at 
first,  after  charging  with 
grain,  being  in  the  direction 
to  raise  the  tin  upward,  con- 
sequently the  millet,  wheat 
and  cracked  corn  will  come 
in  contact  first  with  the  fine 


156 


EGG    FARM. 


mesh  and  afterward  with  a  coarse  and  still  coarser  mesh 
successively,  all  the  time  losing  grain  of  a  coarser  size,  the 
coarsest  particles  of  the  whole  falling  through  the  open 

space  next  to  the 
flange,  a,  by  the  time 
the  cylinder  has  made 
a  complete  revolu- 
tion. The  operation 
of  revolving  a  cylin- 
der and  its  succes- 
sive positions  are 
plainly  shown  in 
Figs. 92,93,94  and  95. 
The  sticks,  I,  b, 
Fig.  60,  are  to  keep 
the  cylinder  in  shape, 

FIG.  61.     END  PIECE  OF  FEED  CYLINDER      While  It  Is   being  Sllp- 

IN  POSITION.  pe(j  onto  the   shaft. 

This  shaft  of  half-inch  iron  pipe  must  have  a  hole  drilled 
through  it  to  receive  a  common  wire  nail,  as  shown  in 
the  left  of  Fig  60 ;  the  nail  being  clamped  against  the 
wood  by  means  of  small  staples. 

At  one  end  of  the  shaft  or  axle,  attach  a  crank,  which 
must  be  moved  only  the  very  slightest  distance  at  a  time, 
so  as  to  spill  the  desired  quantity  at  a  dose  into  each  pen 
of  birds  located  under  each  cylinder,  and  supplied  with 
straw,  chaff,  or  litter,  upon  which  the  feed  drops. 
Eight  or  ten  hours  or  so  must  elapse  before  you  make 
the  axle  accomplish  a  complete  revolution.  In  a  frac- 
tion of  a  second  you  can  sift  down  a  dose  for  a  half 
dozen  flocks  or  for  a  score  of  flocks,  according  to  the 
length  of  the  building  and  the  axle.  It  takes  no  longer 
to  feed  several  hundred  birds  than  to  feed  twenty.  A 
mere  jar  with  the  thick  of  the  hand  against  the  handle 
of  the  crank  does  the  business.  This  jar  should  be  given 
two  or  three  times  an  hour. 


THE    EXERCISER. 


157 


In  a  large  establishment,  where  an  attendant  must 
be  on  hand  pretty  much  all  the  time,  anyhow,  this  oper- 
ation by  a  crank  will  be  chosen,  but  the  fancier  or 
amateur,  or  ordinary  keeper  of  one  or  a  few  flocks,  will 
do  well  to  attach  clockwork  to  the  dropper,  and  to  the 
chaff  box  described  further  on,  so  that  the  feeding  may 
be  carried  on  regularly,  while  he  is  at  his  office  or  store 
or  even  out  of  town.  The  easiest  way  to  make  a  crank 
and  attach  it  to  the  axle  of  the  dropper,  is  to  use  a  half- 
inch  iron  pipe  six  inches  long  and  another  piece  four 
inches  long  for  a  handle,  and  two  elbows,  one  of  which 
is  to  be  screwed  to  one  end  of  the  axle,  see  Figs.  120  and 

63.  Or,  if  a  black- 
smith can  be  obtain- 
ed more  readily  than 
a  plumber,  one  end 
of  the  hollow  axle 
may  be  plugged  with 
iron  and  a  wrought 
iron  crank,  Figure 
67,  may  be  attached 
with  a  nut  and 
washer.  Or  a  ready 
made  crank  with  a 
wooden  handle,  Fig. 
69,  can  generally  be 
procured  at  a  hard- 
ware store.  Or,  if 
you  are  near  an  ag- 
ricultural implement 
factory  or  a  railroad 
shop  and  can  get  a  handwheel,  such  as  is  represented  in 
Fig.  68,  it  will  be  better  than  any  sort  of  crank. 


FIG.  62.  CRANK  FOR  WOODEN  SHAFT. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE   TILT   BOX. 

A  pile  of  straw,  leaves,  chaff,  excelsior,  hay,  or  almost 
any  sort  of  litter  must  be  located  under  the  cylinder. 
If  the  litter  would  always  remain  loose  and  huffy  so  that 
the  grain  would  rattle  down  in  interstices,  then  no  fur- 
ther machinery  would  be  needed.  But  it  will  not 
remain  loose.  The  scratching  of  the  birds  will  soon 
reduce  long  straw  to  short  bits,  and  their  trampling 
will  turn  the  pile  into  a  compact  mass,  on  top  of  which 
the  grain  will  lie  and  be  devo.ured  at  once,  and  therefore 
no  exercise  to  speak  of  will  be  secured.  An  agitator  or 
litter-stirring  apparatus  is  therefore  necessary,  as  well  as 
a  grain  dropper,  so  that  the  litter  and  grain  may  be 
thoroughly  mixed  together. 

There  are  a  half  dozen  different  methods  of  construct- 
ing simple  machinery  for  mixing,  but  the  simplest 
movement  consists  in  using  chaff,  short  cut  straw  or 
other  stuff  for  litter  that  is  short  and  heavy  enough  to 
roll  and  tumble  readily,  and  placing  it  in  a  box  or  bin 
that  is  made  to  rock  like  a  cradle.  Let  the  floor  be  in  a 
level  position  at  the  start,  then  rock  the  box  till  the 
floor  stands  at  an  almost  perpendicular  position,  causing 
the  litter  to  tumble,  then  rock  the  box  back  again  to  a 
level.  The  grain  is  dropped  just  before  the  litter  begins 
to  slide  or  tumble.  By  a  simple  device,  to  be  presently 
described,  the  fowls  are  called  out  of  the  tilt  box  before 
it  is  rocked,  and  are  not  admitted  till  it  is  level  again. 

The  operation  of  rocking  or  tilting  will  be  understood 
by  referring  to  Figs.  72  and  73.  Suppose  the  box  is  at 

158 


THE  TILT  BOX. 


159 


rest,  as  shown  at  A,  Fig.  73,  the  litter  being  represented 
by  the  dots  being  level.  The  first  step  is  to  tilt  to  the 
position,  B,  and  then  stop  a  second  and  drop  feed  from 
the  cylinder,  10,  before  the  litter  tumbles,  then  pass  to 
the  full  tilt,  C,  Fig.  72,  which  makes  a  windrow  or  ridge, 
then  immediately  go  back  to  the  level  position,  D,  when 


FIG.  S3.     END  OF  ROW  OF  FEED  CYLINDERS. 

the  windrow  will  be  found  intact  at  y,  with  grain  mixed 
through  it  ready  for  the  fowls  to  enter  and  go  to  work. 
The  shape  of  the  windrow  is  not  destroyed  by  the  motion 
of  the  tilt  box  in  returning  to  the  original  position. 
After  the  birds  have  worked  about  twenty  minutes, 
scratching,  the  litter  will  be  back  to  its  original  level, 


160  AN"    EGG    FARM. 

or  nearly  level,  position,  as  shown  at  A,  Fig.  73.  There 
is  wire  netting  from  x  to  w  and  from  w  to  v,  which 
gives  light  and  air,  and  also  permits  the  feed  to  drop 
through  when  the  cylinder  is  jarred  slightly  while  the 
box  is  at  the  half  tilt.  The  portions  of  the  box  at  u,  v, 
w,  £  and  y  are  boarded,  and  to  put  litter  in  the  box  or 

take  it  out,  make  v  and  the 
wire  strip  next  it  in  the  form 
of  a  door,  to  be  hinged  to 
the  board,  w.  The  tilt  box 
is  supported  upon  and  rota- 
ted by  an  axle,  4,  of  iron 
pipe,  which  rests  on  joists, 
these  being  about  two  feet 

FIG.  64.      FENCE  RATCHET.  ab°V6   tllG   fl°°r    °f    tlie   bulld- 

ing,  so  as  to  give  the  box 

room  to  tilt.  A  row  of  tilt  boxes,  each  for  a  separate 
flock,  may  be  attached  to  one  continuous  axle,  and  all 
tilted  simultaneously,  a  row  of  feed  cylinders  being  sus- 
pended above  them  to  correspond. 

If,  for  the  sake  of  economy  or  convenience,  a  wooden 
axle  is  preferred,  the  tilt  boxes  may  be  nailed  to  a  sawed 
stick  3x3  or  4x4,  or  larger,  according  to  the  number  of 
tilt  boxes  it  is  to  turn,  the  stick  being  rounded  where  it 
rests  on  the  joists ;  or  a  straight  pole  from  the  forest 
may  be  substituted,  Fig.  74,  and  clamped  to  the  box  by 
bolts,  #,#,  passing  through  pieces  of  hard  wood,  a  and  c. 
Clamps  consisting  of  single  blocks  of  wood  and  two 
bolts,  Fig.  98,  may  be  used  to  attach  small  (chick  size) 
tilt  boxes  to  iron  axles.  The  feed  cylinder  and  tilt  box 
are  useful  for  adult  birds  and  for  chicks  reared  artifi- 
cially in  brooders,  the  size  being  according  to  the  size 
of  the  birds. 

Various  other  mechanical  movements  designed  for 
mixing  grain  and  litter  together  have  been  tested,  but 
none  has  been  found  as  satisfactory  as  the  tilt  box.  A 


THE  TILT   BOX.  161 

box  is  shown  in  Fig.  114,  with  a  portion  of  its  floor,  27, 
curved.  There  are  revolving  arms,  32,  and  spokes,  33, 
attached  to  the  axle,  34.  The  box  does  not  tilt  or 
revolve,  the  motion  of  the  arms  and  spokes  sufficing  to 
«tir  the  litter.  This  apparatus  works  fairly  well,  and 


FIG.  65.     ROW  OF  FEED  CYLINDERS. 

better  than  several  other  mixing  machines  tried  at  our 
establishment,  but  the  tilt  box  excels  all  of  them. 

The  method  of  calling  out  the  occupants  of  the  tilt 
box  into  an  adjoining  apartment  remains  to  be  described. 
The  reader  is  referred  to  Figs.  71  and  76,  which,  how- 
ever, are  not  literal  representations,  but  are  intended 
merely  to  show  the  principle.  Figure  71  is  in  perspective, 
11 


162 


AN   EGG   FARM. 


and  Fig.  76  is  a  transverse  section  of  the  same.  Com- 
pare Fig.  72  with  Fig.  76.  Both  cuts  represent  a  tilt 
box  turning  on  the  axle  4,  although  the  position  is 
reversed  in  one  cut,  and  both  show  the  location  of  the 
octagonal  feed  cylinder  overhead.  Figures  71  and  76 
show  the  essential  features  of  the  method  of  calling  the 


F1C.  66.     CHICKS  RESPONDING  TO  FOOD  SIGNAL. 

birds  out  of  the  way  and  keeping  them  away  until  the 
tilting  operation  is  finished.  The  size  and  preparation 
of  the  various  parts  will  be  modified  according  to  the 
dimensions  of  your  fowl  house,  in  case  of  laying  stock, 
or  the  size  and  shape  of  your  brooders,  in  case  of  winter 
chicks. 

In  Fig.  71  are  given  a  tilting  box  and  a  stationary 


THE   TILT    BOX.  103 

box,  both  being  set  on  legs  and-  being  a  part  of  a  series 
ranged  along  a  passageway  where  the  attendant  goes. 
We  will  suppose  we  are  describing  apparatus  of  chick 
size.  The  tilt  box,  1,  underneath  the  cylinder,  10,  is 
2  or  2  1-2  ft.  wide,  3  1-2  or  4  ft.  long,  according  to  the 
number  of  birds  you  prefer  in  a  brood,  and  1  ft.  high. 
For  the  sake  of  light  and  air  the  top  is  made  mostly  of 
wire  netting,  one  inch  mesh.  Bottom  and  ends  are  of 
boards,  sides  partly  boards,  partly  wire.  Each  box 
should  have  three  to  five  pecks  of  fine  litter,  the  quan- 


FIG.  67.     WROUGHT  TRON  CRANK. 

tity  depending  on  the  age  of  the  chicks,  number  in  a 
brood,  and  size  of  the  box.  The  tilt  boxes  alternate 
with  stationary  boxes  down  the  whole  length  of  the  pas- 
sage, although  but  one  tilt  box,  1,  and  one  stationary 
box,  73  are  shown  in  Fig.  71. 

You  call  the  chicks  out  of  the  tilt  box  into  the  sta- 
tionary box  by  means  of  a  bell,  22,  pulled  by  the  handle 
at  24,  and  by  setting  in  motion  a  small  extra  cylinder, 
20,  represented  here  as  of  a  square  form,  which  contains 
grain  and  is  supported  and  Amoved  by  axle,  19,  and 
crank,  21.  The  small  cylinder  is  set  directly  over  the 


164 


EGG   FARM. 


stationary  box,  7,  which  adjoins  the  tilt  box.  These 
two  boxes  communicate  by  small  exit  apertures,  8  and  9, 
cut  in  the  ends  of  each  box.  These  apertures  recipro- 
cate when  the  tilt  box  is  horizontal,  but  ingress  and 

egress  is  cut  off  when 
the  tilt  box  has  tilted 
half  its  journey.  In 
both  Figs.  71  and  76, 
a  board  flap  may  be 
seen  (the  artist  omit- 
ted giving  it  a  num- 
eral), with  its  lower 
edge  curved,  the  flap 
being  attached  to  the 
tilt  box  under  the 
aperture,  9.  It  fol- 
lows that  when  the 
tilt  is  partly  accom- 
plished, as  shown  by 
the  dotted  lines,  com- 
munication between  the  tilt  box  and  the  stationary 
box  is  cut  off,  so  that  the  birds  cannot  return  to  the  tilt 
box  until  the  tilt  is  completed  and  the  box  is  on  its 
homeward  passage  and  almost  arrived  at  its  original 
level  position.  A  flap  attached  to  a  tilt 
box  is  shown  more  plainly  in  Fig.  1-41, 
which  also  represents  the  best  shaped 
box  that  we  have  tried.  The  opening  in 
the  box  through  which  the  chicks  pass 
in  and  out  is  made  high  enough  above 
the  floor  to  allow  for  a  layer  of  litter. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  the  wirework 
at  the  top  is  in  the  form  of  a  door, 
as  previously  explained,  to  facilitate 
and  putting  in  fresh  occasionally. 

Referring  to  Figs.  71  and  76,  the  order  of  movements 


FIG.  68.     CRANK  WHEEL. 


FIG.  69.     CRANK. 


litter 


THE   TILT   BOX.  165 

is  as  follows  :  You  ring  the  bell  at  22,  at  the  same  time 
causing  the  flag,  25,  to  flutter,  although  the  flag  is  not 
absolutely  necessary,  and  then  you  jar  the  crank,  21, 
slightly,  causing  a  few  particles  to  fall,  and  the  chicks 
rush  pell-mell  through  the  exit  apertures,  8  and  9,  into 
the  stationary  box,  7.  You  then  immediately  begin  to 
rotate  the  tilt  box,  pausing  when  the  tilt  is  half  accom- 
plished, at  which  time  the  floor  of  the  box  stands  at  a 
slope  of  45°  and  the  litter  has  not  begun  to  slump  or 
slide  at  all.  During  this  pause  you  tap  the  crank,  16, 
of  the  main  cylinder,  10,  causing  a  sprinkle  of  feed  to 


FIG.  70.     END  OF  SHAFT. 


drop  upon  the  litter.  Then  you  complete  the  tilt,  and 
the  feed  will  be  found  mixed  all  through  the  ridge  or 
windrow  of  litter. 

Next  bring  the  tilt  box  to  a  level  position,  which 
affords  ingress  to  the  birds,  and,  no  bell  call  being  now 
necessary,  in  they  will  rush  in  two  seconds,  and  proceed 
to  tackle  the  windrow  and  level  it,  to  a  surprising  degree 
uniformly,  all  over  the  bottom  of  the  box,  if  the  litter  is 
not  too  coarse,  and  they  will  be  just  about  twenty  minutes 
doing  it  every  time,  if  the  quantities  of  both  litter  and 
grain  are  right.  Three  times  an  hour,  or  thirty  or  more 
times  a  day,  you  can  repeat  the  operation  as  you  choose. 

The  bell  call,  or  a  flag  call,  or  some  sort  of  a  signal,  is 
a  necessity,  at  first,  when  the  chicks  are  to  be  enticed 


166 


AN    EGG    FARM. 


into  the  stationary  box,  preparatory  to  tilting.  Later, 
no  bell  is  needed,  for  the  very  slightest  movement  of  the 
feed  dropping  appliances,  unless  absolutely  noiseless, 
will  serve  the  purpose  of  the  bell.  Eeferring  to  the 
hand  bell  shown  in  Figs.  71  and  76,  a  trip  gong  bell, 


FIG.  71.     DETAILS  OF  TILT  BOX. 

Fig.  126,  is  preferable,  and  you  may  use  one  for  every 
fifty  or  seventy-five  feet  of  your  brooder  house.  Or  sus- 
pend an  ordinary  sleigh  bell  by  a  cord  over  every  brooder 
box.  People  ask  how  long  it  takes  to  teach  chicks  to 
understand  the  bell,  and  are  surprised  that  only  a  few 
days  are  needed  for  this.  Fowls,  old  and  young,  rely 


THE   TILT    BOX.  167 

much  on  fclieir  ears,  and  as  nature  has  taught  them, 
during  thousands,  or  perhaps  millions,  of  generations, 
to  give  heed  to  a  language  among  themselves,  they  have 
a  natural  aptitude  for  learning  the  meaning  of  sound 
signals.  After  they  have  been  taught,  they  will  heed  a 
bell  hung  at  a  great  distance  from  their  apartment,  or, 


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FIG.  72.     TILT  BOX— REVERSE  OF  FIG.  76. 

as  we  have  said,  the  slightest  noise  made  by  the  friction 
or  jarring  of  the  feed-dropping  apparatus,  or  its  connect- 
ing parts,  will  render  a  bell  unnecessary. 

In  Fig.  71,  the  axle,  14,  is  represented  as  fitted  with 
a  ratchet,  17,  and  pawl,  18 ;  but  these  are  unnecessary, 
the  friction  of  14  against  its  wooden  supports  being  suf- 
ficient to  hold  it  in  the  position  it  is  left  by  the  operator, 
unless  the  axle  supports  quite  a  long  row  of  cylinders. 


168 


AN    EGG   FARM. 


Or  one  or  more  brakes  made  of  a  stick  of  wood  pivoted 
to  an  immovable  stick  at  one  end  and  having  a  weight 
attached  to  the  other  end,  may  be  located  so  as  to  ride 
crosswise  of  the  axle  and  impart  the  desired  amount  of 
friction.  It  is  our  aim  to  show  homemade  styles  of 


FIG.  73.     USING  THK  TILT  BOX. 

construction  for  everything,  as  well  as  more  elaborate 
patterns.  Axles  4,  14  and  19  are  represented  in  the  cut 
as  passing  through  a  wall  or  partition  in  the  foreground. 
Figure  76  represents  the  same  as  Fig.  71,  it  being  a  verti- 
cal section  substantially  through  2,  2.  The  numerals 
are  the  same  in  both  cuts.  The  dotted  lines  in  Fig.  76 


THE   TILT   BOX. 


169 


represent  the  half  tilt,  which  is  the  position  at  the  time 
the  dropping  cylinder  is  moved  to  discharge  feed  upon 
the  litter.  The  operation  of  tilting  is  further  illustrated 
in  Figs.  72  and  77. 

Having  shown  the  mode  of  operation,  by  means  of 
Figs.  71  and  76,  we  beg  to  again  remind  the  reader  that 


FIG.  74.     TILT  BOX  ON  POLE. 

these  two  cuts  are  not  literal  representations  of  the 
exerciser,  for  in  order  to  make  plain  "how  the  thing 
works,"  we  have  employed  these  in  a  general  way  to 
exhibit  the  principle  merely.  The  shape  and  proportion 
of  the  two  boxes  or  apartments,  and  of  the  other  parts, 
must  be  modified  to  fit  various  cases.  The  essential 


170 


AN"   EGG   FARM. 


ideas  are  the  dropping  of  grain  and  ringing  a  bell  to  call 

the  birds  out  of  the  tilt  box,  a  flap  or  revolving  door  to 

shut  them  out,  the  dropping  of  grain 

onto  litter,  the  stirring  or  mixing  of 

the  litter  and  grain  together,  and, 

finally,  allowing  the  birds  admission 

to  the  tilt  box  ;  all  these  stages  being 

accomplished  by  an  operator  at  one 

extreme  end  of  the  building. 

To  turn  the  shaft  which  supports 
the  tilt  boxes,  a  winch,  Fig.  138,  may 
be  employed,  such  as  is  used  for 
hoisting,  provided  the  line  of  tilt 
boxes  is  a  long  one.  Or,  a  long  iron 
crank  may  be  employed,  as  in  Figs. 
78,  79  and  80.  It  may  be  two  and 
a  half  to  three  feet  long,  and  one  or 
one  and  a  quarter  inches  in  diameter. 
It  will  suffice  for  twenty  or  thirty 
chick  tilt  boxes,  or  five  or  six  layer 
tilt  boxes,  and  may  be  made  by  any 
blacksmith  and  attached  by  set 
screws.  The  figures  last  named  show 
tilt  boxes  of  the  shape  of  Fig.  143, 
which  is  a  very  good  style,  these 
being  built  of  wire  wherever  possible,' 
for  the  sake  of  light  and  air,  and  the 
box  being  deepest  at  the  rear  to  re- 
ceive the  windrow.  The  axle  is  not 
at  the  center,  but  nearest  the  rear, 
so  as  to  allow  revolving  more  easily 
on  the  return  trip.  In  Figs.  78,  79 
and  80,  the  call -cylinder  axle  and 
the  axle  of  the  regular  feed  dropping 
cylinders  have  the  sort  of  handwheel  attached  that  is 
shown  in  Fig.  68,  a  brake  wheel  procurable  at  car  shops. 


THE   TILT   BOX.  171 

The  levers  or  cranks  attached  to  the  tilt  box  axles  are 
long,  and  the  handwheels  attached  to  the  cylinder  axles 
are  of  considerable  size,  because  the  axles  represented  in 
the  cuts  are  each  145  ft.  long.  If  the  tilt  box  axle  is  of 
wood,  a  wooden  lever,  Fig.  88,  strengthened  by  iron 
plates,  may  be  fitted  to  one  end  of  the  axle,  which  is 
squared,  Fig.  70,  #,  and  after  the  lever  is  put  on,  a 
collar,  a,  keeps  it  in  place. 


CHAPTEE  XX. 

OUTDOOR    EXERCISER. 

As  exercise  out  of  doors  is  very  desirable  during  the 
whole  year,  except  when  the  weather  forbids,  and  as  the 
tilt  box  is  not  very  well  adapted  to  out  of  doors,  a  style 
of  apparatus  different  from  that  we  have  described  is  of 
great  value  for  use  in  yards.  While  the  form  of  exercise 
for  indoors  consists  in  scratching,  the  outdoor  exercise 
is  by  running,  jumping  and  flying.  To  begin  with,  two 
small  yards  of  50  to  100  square  ft.  of  ground  are  con- 
structed for  each  flock,  100,  150  or  200  ft.  apart,  accord- 
ing to  the  space  at  command,  these  being  connected  by 
low,  narrow  runways  of  wire  netting  stretched  over 
frames  of  wood  or  iron,  exactly  as  described  for  breeders 
and  sitters  on  the  extensive  plan. 

These  runways  are  only  2  1-2  or  3  ft.  high  and  the 
same  in  width  and  are  preferably  built  in  separate  mov- 
able sections,  say  12  ft.  long.  They  are  the  same  as 
those  used  for  fowls  kept  yarded  in  connection  with  the 
extensive  or  itinerant  plan.  These  sections  or  hurdles 
can  be  readily  moved  and  the  ground  plowed  to  keep  it 
sweet  arid  clean,  and  being  closed  at  top  and  sides  by  the 
wirework  and  open  at  both  ends,  they  make  a  continuous 
passage  or  runway  when  placed  in  a  line  end  to  end. 
We  have  said  that  each  runway  terminates  at  either  end 
in  a  small  yard.  Now,  there  is  also  an  additional  yard 
attached  to  each  runway,  midway  between  the  two  end 
yards.  This  center  yard  should  be  covered,  4  or  5 
ft.  wideband  considerably  higher  than  the  runways,  say 
4  ft.  for  Asiatics,  5  or  6  ft.  for  medium  breeds  and  7  or 

172 


OUTDOOR   EXERCISER. 


173 


8  ft.,  at  least,  for  high  fliers  like  the  Leghorns.     The 
length  should  be  in  proportion  to  the  hight,  say  8  to  16  ft. 


FIG.  76.  TRANSVERSE  SECTIOK  OF  TILT  BOX. 

These  little  yards  with  runway  attached  will  afford 
fifty  times  the  exercise  in  proportion  to  the  building 
material  employed  and  the  space  occupied,  that  the  ordi- 


174 


AN   EGG   FARM. 


nary  yard  will.  The  birds  will  take  more  exercise  even 
than  the  farmer's  flock,  which  runs  at  large.  For  the  flock 
in  a  yard  or  on  a  free  range  will  walk,  while  those  in  the 
runway  will  run,  that's  the  difference.  The  surface  of 


FIG.  77.      INTERIOR  ALTERNATE   SYSTEM.      SKE   FIGS.  128  AND   130. 

an  ordinary  yard  becomes,  in  a  short  time,  as  bare  as 
the  desert  of  Sahara.  It  affords  not  the  slightest  incen- 
tive to  exertion.  There  is  no  more  vegetation  growing 
on  it  than  on  the  lid  of  a  copper  teakettle,  and  it  is 


OUTDOOR   EXERCISER. 


175 


seldom,  indeed,  that  a  stray  grasshopper  invades  its 
sterile  precincts.  The  nature  of  the  fowls  is  to  run, 
search,  spy  and  hunt,  yet  they  become  discouraged  and 
finally  relapse  into  idleness  and  mope  in  a  corner.  But 


FIG.  78.     BOW  OF  TILT  BOXES,  FROM  END. 

the  runways  we  are  describing  cure  all  that,  as  the  reader 
will  see  further  on. 

Figure  82  gives  a  partial  view  of  a  series  of  low,  narrow 
runways,  connecting  with  a  row  of  end  pens  or  small 


176 


AN   EGG   FARM. 


yards. ,  Figure  83  is  a  ground  plan  that  will  further 
assist  the  reader  to  understand  the  arrangement  of  the 
runways  and  pens.  Let  1,  1,  1,  1  represent  one  row  of 


FIG.  79.   TILT  BOXES  PAKTLY  TUKNED. 


end  pens,  which  we  will  call  the  " nearby"  pens,  mean- 
ing those  which  are  at  the  end  the  most  convenient  for 
access  of  the  poultry  keeper.  These  are  for  four  flocks 
respectively,  2,  2,  2,  2  being  the  distant  end  yards  for  the 


OUTDOOR   EXERCISER.  177 

same  flocks,  and  3,  3,  3,  3  the  midway  yards,  built  high  as 
was  described,  being  intended  for  jumping  and  flying. 
The  runways  enable  the  birds  to  run  from  1  to  2,  pass- 
ing through  3  on  the  way.  Across  the  center  of  yard, 
3,  there  is  a'board  fence  set  at  right  angles  with  the  run- 
way. This  fence  is  composed  of  a  vertical  frame,  which 
supports  horizontal  movable  boards,  each  six  inches 
wide,  more  or  less,  as  may  be  convenient.  At  first, 
leave  all  the  boards  out  till  the  birds  are  used  to  the  run- 
ways. Then  slide  in  the  bottom  board,  after  a  few  days 
add  another  board,  and  build  up  in  this  way  by  easy 
stages.  The  dotted  lines  at  3  show  the  location  of  the 
fences. 

Now,  for  the  incentive  to  running  back  and  forth  the 
whole  length  of  the  runways  and  giving  a  good  jump 
and  fly  at  the  halfway  house.  This  incentive  consists 
in  locating  a  series  of  feed  droppers  over  1,  1,  1,  1,  and 
another  over  2,  2,  2,  2,  at  the  respective  centers  as  indi- 
cated by  the  dotted  lines.  These  droppers  or  cylinders 
may  be  like  those  previously  described,  which  are  .sus- 
pended over  the  tilt  boxes  of  the  indoor  exerciser. 
Further  on,  we  shall  describe  other  feed  droppers  in  the 
form  of  pouches  or  sieves  instead  of  cylinders. 

There  is  a  bell  at  the  nearby  line  of  cylinders  and 
another  at  the  distant  row.  The  operator  stands  at  A 
to  move  the  cylinders  of  the  nearby  pens  and  rings  the 
bell,  while,  without  leaving  the  spot,  he  can  also  ring 
the  distant  bell  when  desired  by  means  of  a  bell  wire, 
stretched  from  A  to  B,  and  he  can  also  move  the 
cylinders  over  2,  2,  2,  2,  without  leaving  his  post  at  A,  by 
means  of  a  simple  contrivance  illustrated  in  Fig.  82.  In 
this  cut,  the  feeder  is  supposed  to  be  looking  directly 
down  upon  the  cylinders  and  pens,  it  being  a  ground 
plan  of  three  runways.  The  artist  has  broken  off  these 
runways,  however,  and  the  operating  wires  also,  and 
omitted  the  halfway  pens,  the  entire  length  being  too 
12 


178 


AST    EGG   FARM. 


great  to  be  shown  in  the  diagram.     The  two  cranks  in 
the  cut  are  supposed  to  be  at  the  nearby  pens,  corre- 


FIG.  80.     TILT  BOXES  TURNED. 


spending  to  the  point  A  in  Fig.  83,  so  as  to  be  within 
easy  reach  of  the  operator. 

A  row  of  cylinders  over  distant  pens  are  seen  in  the 
background  of  Fig.  96.  As  previously  stated,  the  cyl- 
inder axle  of  the  nearby  pens  may  be  revolved  by  means 


OUTDOOR   EXERCISER.  179 

of  the  nearby  crank.  The  cylinder  axle  belonging  to  the 
distant  pens  has,  instead  of  a  crank,  a  wooden  spool, 
eight  inches  in  diameter,  attached  to  one  end  of  the 
axle  and  a  small  flexible  wire,  No.  14,  passes  two  or 
three  times  around  this  spool.  To  the  short  end  of  the 
wire  is  attached  a  weight,  not  shown  in  Fig.  82,  while 
the  long  end  extends  the  whole  length  of  the  runway, 
terminating  at  a  point  near  the  nearby  pens,  where  it 
winds  upon  a  small  spool  or  axle,  to  which  a  crank  and 
a  ratchet  and  pawl  are  attached. 

In  Fig.  84,  the  two  spools  and  their  connecting 
wire  are  shown  viewed  from  the  end  instead  of  from 
above  as  in  Fig.  82 — 14«  is  the  distant  spool,  14#  the 
wire  and  14c  the  nearby  spool  in  both  figures.  In 
Fig.  84,  W  is  a  weight  which  is  hung  in  the  pit,  P, 
dug  in  the  ground ;  G,  G,  four  feet  deep  and  walled  or 
boarded  at  the  sides,  and  furnished  with  a  movable  top 
or  lid  with  a  hole  in  it,  through  which  the  wire  passes. 
The  distance  between  the  two  spools  may  be  fifty  feet  or 
so  for  young  chicks,  or  several  hundred  feet  for  grown 
fowls,  therefore  the  wire  is  represented  as  broken  off 
the  same  as  in  Fig.  82.  And  we  may  say  that  in  all  the 
cuts  the  intention  is  merely  to  show  the  principles  of 
construction,  whether  the  illustrations  are  made  to  scale 
or  not. 

In  Fig.  82,  the  spools  are  represented  as  somewhat 
elaborate,  with  rims,  but  these  are  not  essential,  and  in 
Fig.  84  the  spools  are  simple  round  sticks  without  rims, 
such  as  may  be  sawed  from  natural  poles.  The  spool, 
which  has  a  crank  attached,  instead  of  being  of  wood, 
may  consist  of  an  iron  fence  ratchet  and  pawl,  Fig.  64, 
such  as  is  used  to  tighten  wires  on  fences.  We  have- 
used  it  with  great  satisfaction,  it  being  strong,  durable 
and  not  liable  to  get  out  of  order.  These  ratchets  are 
in  the  market  wherever  barbed  wire  is  sold,  price  five  or 
six  cents  each.  To  operate  the  fence  ratchet,  get  a 


180  AN   EGG   FARM. 

plumber  to  make  a  crank  of  a  piece  of  half-inch  iron 
pipe,  six  inches  long,  and  for  the  handle  another  piece, 
four  inches  long,  and  two  elbows,  one  of  which  he  can 
attach  to  the  shank  of  the  ratchet  by  cutting  four  slits 
one-half  inch  long  in  one  end  of  the  elbow  and  hammer- 
ing it  to  slip  over  the  shank.  Drill  through  both  shank 


FIG.  81.     FOWLS  AT  EXERCISE. 


and  elbow  and  pin  together  with  a  common   wire  nail, 
Fig.   120. 

In  Fig.  63,  this  crank  of  half-inch  iron  pipe  is  shown 
attached  to  the  ratchet.  The  latter,  however,  is  obscure 
in  the  cut,  being  shown  on  a  small  scale.  The  whole  is 
fastened  to  a  post,  about  breast  high,  in  a  position  for 


OUTDOOR   EXERCISER. 


181 


use.  The  lower  wire  runs  to  the  spool  of  the  distant 
row  of  cylinders,  the  same  as  are  numbered  14«  in  Figs. 
82  and  84.  In  Figs.  66  and  96,  the  reader  will  per- 
ceive the  same  distant  row  of  cylinders  in  the  back 
ground.  Figure  83  is  an  end  view  of  the  same.  In 


FIG.  82.     PLAN  OF  PENS  WITH  CYLINDERS. 

Fig.  63,  the  upper  wire  is  for  the  bell  and  corresponds 
to  22  in  Fig.  82. 

If  you  want  to  make  the  nearby  spool  of  wood,  you 
can  get  your  blacksmith  to  attach  an  iron  handle  and 
crank  fitted  with  a  set  screw,  Fig.  85,  or,  if  you  prefer 


182 


AN   EGG    FARM. 


B 


.- L___..-_L.- 

1  i  _JL 


FIG.   83.      GROUND  PLAN  OF  RUNWAYS. 


OUTDOOR   EXERCISER.  183 

a  homemade  wooden  crank,  it  may  be  fastened  directly 
to  your  homemade  wooden  spool,  Fig.  62.  The  nearby 
axle,  16,  in  Fig.  82,  must  be  provided  with  a  crank, 
which  you  can  have  made  of  pipe,  the  same  as  for  the 
fence  ratchet  in  Fig.  120,  only  you  omit  to  split  the 
elbow.  Keep  it  intact,  and  it  will  just  screw  onto  your 
axle  of  half-inch  pipe. 

The  partitions  of  the  nearby  pens  and  also  of  the  dis- 
tant pens  must  be  carried  up  nine  inches  higher  than 
the  tops  of  the  pens,  so  as  to  serve  as  supports  of  the 
cylinder  axles,  and  give  the  cylinders  with  their  tin 
flanges  room  to  turn.  See  Fig.  65. 

The  modus  operandi  can  be  easily  discovered  from  the 
above  description.  The  birds  race  like  Jehu  through 
the  runway,  whenever  the  bell  is  rung  and  grain  dropped 
from  the  cylinder  at  either  end.  Moreover,  when  the 
keeper  is  not  at  hand  and  the  cylinders  have  not  been 
moved  for  some  time,  they  make  numerous  trips  back 
and  forth  on  their  own  hook,  because  they  have  only  one 
idea  in  their  heads,  which  may  be  expressed  thus : 
" Let's  run  and  see  what  there  is  good  at  the  other  end." 
It  will  be  found  that  it  is  very  easy  to  teach  fowls,  old 
or  young  and  of  various  species,  to  run  at  the  sound  of 
the  bell.  They  are  naturally  great  listeners  and  give 
close  attention  to  every  sort  of  sound  within  their  hear- 
ing, which  is  very  acute.  A  cock  will  respond  to  a 
crowing  that  is  a  mile  or  more  away,  if  the  wind  is  not 
unfavorable.  Their  own  language  they  understand  with- 
out learning.  But  they  have  an  aptitude  for  learning 
aural  signals  other  than  the  natural  language  of  their 
species. 

Witness  the  common  hen  with  a  brood  of  turkey 
chicks,  peafowl  chicks  or  ducklings.  At  first,  her 
younglings  do  not  know  what  she  means  when  she  calls 
them  to  partake  of  a  choice  morsel.  It  is  not  their 
mother  tongue.  But  in  a  few  days  they  learn  its  mean- 


184 


A!N"   EGG   FA  KM. 


JM  ing  and  respond  with  alac- 

rity. The  best  bell  for  our 
chicken  call  is  the  trip  gong 
bell,  Fig.  126.  It  is  well- 
made,  works  easily,  respond- 
ing quickly  to  the  pull  of  the 
bell  wire  and  is  not  expen- 
sive. After  a  while,  the 
movement  of  the  feed  drop- 
per will  attract  their  atten- 
tion and  you  do  not  have 
to  ring  the  bell.  The  birds, 
young  or  old,  scamper 
through  the  runway  and 
jump  and  fly  over  the  cen- 
tral fence  with  a  prompt- 
ness and  unanimity  that  is 
like  that  of  well-drilled  sol- 
diers on  the  double  quick, 
Fig.  SI,  and  their  move- 
ments never  fail  to  elicit  ex- 
clamations of  delight  from 
bystanders.  The  perform- 
ance is  not  intended  as  a 
whimsey  or  novelty  for  fun's 
sake,  but  for  downright  busi- 
ness, dollars  and  cents.  Yet 
it  is  a  show  all  the  same,  as 
^  attractive  as 

the  perform- 
ance of  well- 
trained  dogs 
or  horses. 
Figure  145 
represents  a 
group  of  spectators  at  a  poultry  show,  witnessing,  for 


£  i 
* — 4 


OUTDOOR   EXERCISER.  185 

the  first  time,  half -grown  chicks  in  a  runway  at  full 
speed,  intent  on  the  feed  just  dropped  from  the  cylin- 
ders in  the  background.  These  chicks  were,  of  course, 
taught  on  their  native  heath,  before  being  trotted  out 
for  exhibition. 


CHAPTER   XXL 

SUCCESS   WITH   DUCKS. 

The  outdoor  exerciser,  in  a  modified  form,  is  especially 
useful  in  commercial  duck  raising,  an  industry  which 
has  already  assumed  enormous  proportions  and  which 
has  come  to  stay ;  for  the  Chinese,  who,  for  thousands 
of  years,  have  made  ducks  a  favorite  source  of  food  sup- 
ply, knew  what  they  were  about,  although  Europeans 
had,  meanwhile,  hastily  concluded  that  they  would  not 
pay  as  well  as  common  fowls. 

There  is  no  other  valuable  animal  food  produced  that 
is  so  cheaply  raised  as  partly  grown  Pekin  ducks  by 
wholesale,  by  modern  methods,  which  insure  quick 
growth.  On  a  small  scale,  without  the  benefits  of  care, 
skill  and  system,  they  are  not  profitable,  since,  when 
kept  beyond  a  certain  age,  ducks  of  any  breed  will  eat 
their  heads  off.  The  ducklings  need  no  apparatus  for 
exercise,  being  unlike  chicks  in  this  respect,  for  they 
will  shuffle  around,  even  if  kept  in  a  very  small  space, 
whether  there  is  any  incentive  to  move  or  not.  They  are 
naturally  exceedingly  active  when  very  young.  Neither 
do  the  laying  ducks  require  special  provision  for  exer- 
cise during  the  laying  season,  provided  they  have  unlim- 
ited range  and  comparatively  scanty  feed  during  the 
remainder  of  the  year,  so  that  they  may  be  induced  to 
move  about  actively  to  forage  on  insects  and  vegetation. 

In  this  off  season,  they  must  not  be  kept  under  the 
pressure  of  high  feeding,  which  is  advantageous  to  their 
owner  when  the  laying  season  approaches  and  early  eggs 
for  hatching  are  desired.  Now  a  good  range,  after  the 

186 


.      SUCCESS   WITH    DUCKS.  187 

laying  season  is  over,  with  suitable  forage,  fresh  water, 
security  from  marauders,  and  all  other  requisites,  is  com- 
monly very  difficult  to  obtain  when  the  breeding  birds 
number  not  hundreds  but  thousands ;  hence,  the  great 
advantages  of  the  outdoor  exerciser  for  the  ducks 
reserved  for  breeding. 

All  that  is  requisite  is  a  distant  row  of  feed  cylinders, 
as  in  Fig.  65,  and  in  place  of  covered  runways  a  row  of 


FIG.  85.     CRANK,  WITH   SET  SCREW. 

long  yards  wide  enough  to  admit  a  team  for  plowing,  so 
as  to  keep  the  soil  free  of  taint,  and  at  the  nearby  end  of 
the  yards  swimming  tanks  under  the  feed  cylinders,  as 
in  Fig.  86.  In  this  figure,  a  ditch  is  cut  and  boarded  at 
sides  and  bottom  ;  c  showing  the  original  surface  of  the 
ground,  e  an  inclined  plane  of  boards  with  lath  tacked 
onto  afford  foothold,  and  d,  a  .platform  with  a  slight 
slant  for  drainage.  The  feed  cylinder  is  at  A  and  the 


188 


AN   EGG   FARM. 


long  yard  begins  at  Y.  If  the  "lay  of  the  ground'' 
admits  of  a  shallow  ditch,  the  approach,  0,  may  be 
omitted. 

The  tank  may  be  two,  three  or  four  feet  wide,  or  more, 
according  to  the  quantity  of  running  water  that  can  be 
supplied.  As  the  idea  is  to  have  the  tank  several  hun- 
dred feet  long  and  divided  by  wirework  into  sections  for 
the  accommodation  of  numerous  flocks,  a  brisk  current 
is  demanded  for  cleanliness's  sake,  therefore  the  tank 


FI«.  86.     EXERCISER  FOR  WATER  FOWL. 

should  not  be  too  wide.  The  depth  of  the  water  is  very 
important.  The  ditch  and  the  tank  which  lines  it 
should  be  constructed  so  that  the  depth  may  be  just  suf- 
ficient to  cause  the  ducks  to  assume  the  position  shown 
in  the  cut,  and  grope  and  grovel  for  the  feed  which  has 
been  dropped  from  the  cylinders  above  upon  the  bottom 
of  the  tank,  thus  giving  play  to  all  the  principal  sets  of 
muscles.  As  they  hurry  through  the  yards,  they  will  at 
times  use  their  wings  as  well  as  their  legs,  and,  while 


SUCCESS   WITH   DUCKS.  189 

reaching  for  their  food  at  the  bottom  of  the  tank,  their 
necks  and  bills  will  be  actively  employed.  Nature  will 
receive  her  just  dues. 

This  is  not  like  "  hogging"  feed  out  of  a  trough.  Of 
course,  there  must  be  a  bell  near  the  distant  feed  cylin- 
ders and  another  at  the  tank.  The  cylinders  need  not 
be  charged  oftener  than  once  a  day,  and  by  carrying  a 
pail  of  soaked  wheat,  barley  or  cracked  corn  in  one  hand 
and  a  tin  scoop  in  the  other,  the  filling  can  be  very 
quickly  done.  The  establishment  is  supposed  to  have  an 
attendant,  employed  at  something  near  at  hand,  so  that 
he  may  move  the  cylinders  and  ring  the  bells  every  hour 
or  oftener,  but  the  perfection  of  labor  saving  is  to  have 
this  done  by  clockwork,  similar  to  that  which  strikes 
the  hours  in  a  tower  clock.  Pekins,  which  are  the 
duck  for  commercial  raising,  are  indifferent  to  swim- 
ming, preferring  dry  land  in  fact;  yet  they  can  be 
induced  to  work  in  this  way  to  their  great  benefit  during 
the  off  season.  In  this  way,  the  stamina  of  the  strain  of 
selected  breeding  birds  can  be  maintained  generation 
after  generation  and  diseases  kept  at  bay. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

PERFECTING   THE   DETAILS. 

The  axle  for  a  row  of  feed  cylinders  may  be  made 
from  iron  pipe,  half  inch  diameter,  if  the  row  is  not 
over  150  ft.  in  length,  and  as  the  pressure  of  the  weight 
of  the  grain  in  the  cylinders  tends  to  hold  the  lengths 
of  pipe  together,  there  is  no  danger  of  unscrewing. 
But,  as  in  case  of  the  tilt  boxes,  there  is  sometimes  pres- 
sure, tending  to  unscrew  the  lengths  of  pipe,  a  collar, 
consisting  of  a  short  piece  of  larger  pipe,  should  be 
slipped  over  the  end  of  each  length  of  pipe  at  the  joint, 
this  collar  to  be  bolted  to  the  pipe.  Let  a,  a,  in  Fig. 
87,  represent  each  the  end  of  a  length  of  pipe,  meeting 
at  the  joint,  e.  The  collar,  6%  encloses  the  end  of  each 
pipe,  being  held  in  place  by  the  bolts,  i,  i,  which  pass 
through  holes  drilled  through  both  the  collar  and  the 
pipes.  For  brooder  chicks'  tilt  boxes,  three-fourths  inch 
pipe  will  answer  for  the  axle,  and  no  collars  will  be  nec- 
essary unless  the  row  of  tilt  boxes  exceeds  1 50  ft.  in 
length. 

For  axles  to  tilt  boxes  of  grown  fowls,  the  pipe  should 
be  two  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  collars  may  be  omit- 
ted if  the  line  of  tilt  boxes  is  less  than  50  ft.  in  length. 
When  operations  are  begun  on  a  small  scale,  it  will  fre- 
quently happen  that  it  is  more  convenient  to  use  wooden 
axles  for  the  tilt  boxes,  like  Fig.  74,  revolved  by  means 
of  a  long  wooden  lever,  Fig.  88.  To  prevent  a  very 
disagreeable  creaking,  which  frightens  the  birds,  as  well 
as  annoys  their  owner,  when  such  wooden  axles  are 
made  to  turn,  fasten  strips  of  tin  under  the  axles  at  the 

190 


PERFECTING   THE  DETAILS. 


191 


points  where  they  bear  on  their  supports,  for  wood 
against  wood  will  creak  in  spite 
of  oiling,  while  wood  against 
metal  will  move  silently,  whether 
lubricated  or  not.  A  wooden 
axle  should  not  be  over  50  or 
60  ft.  long,  for  if  too  long  it 
will  "give"  or  twist  too  much. 
To  aid  readers  who  prefer 
something  simpler  than  the  feed 
cylinder  previously  described  for 
dropping  grain,  illustrations  of 
a  feed  pouch  are  given.  Figure 
89  shows  wire  cloth  of  different 
sizes  of  mesh,  Fig.  58,  nailed  to 
end  pieces  of  wood  forming  a 
sort  of  pouch,  the  whole  being 
nailed  to  a  square  stick  which 
serves  as  an  axle,  this  axle  being, 
of  course,  rounded  at  the  bear- 
ing places,  which  are  not  shown 
in  the  cut.  The  narrow  board 
in  the  foreground  is  at  the  side 
where  the  grain  is  put  into  the 
poach,  the  attendant  going  the 
rounds  with  a  pail  of  grain  in 
one  hand  and  a  scoop  in  the 
other,  this  board  answering  the 
same  purpose  as  the  flange  of 
tin,  a,  in  the  cylinder,  Fig.  60, 
and  the  board,  like  the  flange, 
is  set  flaring,  to  facilitate  charg- 
ing with  grain.  Such  a  pouch 
can  be  used  indoors  over  a  tilt 
box,  or  out  of  doors  over  a  pen 
in  the  out-of-doors  exerciser,  and  the  shaft  may  be  3x3 


T 


to 


192 


AN"   EGG   FARM. 


in.  or  4x4  in.,  or  any  size  demanded  by  its  length  and 
by  the  number  of  pouches  fastened  to  it. 
The  pouch  may  be  two  or  three  feet  long, 
and  the  width  of  the  end  pieces  must,  of 
course,  suit  the  size  of  the  shaft. 

A  still  simpler  style,  and  easier  to  con- 
struct, shown  in  Fig.  110,  goes  well  with 
the  rough  pole.  The  projecting  bottom 
piece  gives  a  sufficient  surface  to  nail 
through.  A  flange  board  similar  to  that 
in  Fig.  89  may  be  easily  added,  if  desired. 
If  the  distant  out-of-doors  feed  pens,  such 
as  are  shown  at  B,  in  Fig.  83,  are  fitted 
with  such  a  pole  and  pouches,  no  spool 
need  be  used,  but  a  wire  and  weight  can 
be  employed,  the  same  exactly  as  in  Fig. 
84,  the  big  end  of  the  pole  serving  for  a 
spool. 

If  rounded  bearings  are  to  be  made  for 
w    a  square  shaft  of   a  row  of  tilt  boxes,  or 
%    for  a  square  shaft  of  a  row  of  feed  pouches 
I    or  feed  cylinders,  then  it  will  not  be  found 
§    a  good  plan  to  cut  away  the  square  cor- 
£    ners   of    your   wooden    shaft,    because    it 
gg    weakens   it.      Build  onto   it,    instead,  by 
o    simply  nailing  on  rounded  bearing  pieces 
fe    like  that   shown  in  Fig.   90.      Figure  91 
gives  a   transverse   section  of  a  shaft  or 
axle,  c,  with  four  such  pieces  attached,  a, 
on  which   the  axle  turns.     The  rounded 
bearing  pieces  may  turn  in  a  notch  either 
square   or   rounded,    cut   in   a   horizontal 
stick  and  overlaid  with  tin,  as  previously 
mentioned. 

A  square  wooden  shaft  for  out-of-door 
feed  boxes  may  be  attached  to  the  spool  on 


PERFECTING   THE   DETAILS. 


193 


which  the  wire  winds,  by  simply  nailing  on  six  half- 
moon  pieces  of  inch  board,  d,  Figs.  92,  93,  94  and  95, 
the  square  end  of  the  shaft  being  simply  toed  with  nails 
to  the 'end  of  the  roller  before  the  half-moon  pieces  are 
nailed  on.  Figure  121  shows 
one  of  these  half-moon  pieces 
by  itself.  Figures  92  to  95  in- 
clusive represent  the  same  shaft 
and  its  belongings  in  different 
positions.  In  addition  to  a 
spool,  these  four  cuts  show  both 
a  pouch  and  a  cylinder,  and 
the  reader  can  judge  which  is 
easiest  to  make.  By  studying 
these  cuts,  the  different  posi- 
tions of  both  pouch  and  cylin- 
der may  be  also  noted,  and  it 
will  be  understood  how  the 
grain  drops,  little  by  little, 
through  the  meshes  of  various 
sizes,  the  cracked  corn  consist- 
ing of  particles  which  are  also 
of  various  sizes,  whole  wheat 
and  broken  wheat,  or  wheat 
screenings,  oats,  buckwheat  or 
millet  may  also  be  employed  to 
furnish  different  sizes.  In  these 
four  cuts,  a  shows  a  bearing  for 
shaft  to  rest  on  and  turn  on  ; 
I  is  a  feed  pouch ;  c,  shaft ;  d, 
one  of  the  six  half-moon  pieces, 
attached  in  pairs,  and  e  is -a 

feed  cylinder.  Figure  97  illustrates  a  still  simpler  home- 
made wooden  shaft  and  cylinder,  the  roller  or  spool,  and 
attachments,  being  made  entirely  of  inch  boards.  Each 
end  of  the  feed  cylinder  consists  of  two  pieces  of  boards, 
13 


FIG.  80.     FEED  POUCH. 


194  AN    EGG   FARM. 

with  a  notch  in  each  to  receive  the  shaft.  Three  tools 
only  are  needed  for  making  this  style,  a  knife,  a  saw  and 
a  hammer.  To  cheapen  construction,  this  homemade 
cylinder  we  are  describing  does  not  extend  out  into  a 
flange  as  at  a,  Fig.  60.  The  flange  is  convenient  for 
putting  in  grain,  but  not  indispensable. 

It  being  our  aim  to  show  how  wood  may  be  substi- 
tuted for  metal  in  the  construction  of  nearly  all  the 
apparatus  employed  to  induce  poultry  to  take  exercise, 
and  how  ordinary  ingenuity  may  build  a  homemade 
equipment  without  the  services  of  a  trained  mechanic, 


FIG.  90.  ROUNDED  BEARING  FOR  SQUARE  SHAFT. 

we  illustrate  by  Fig.  99  a  spool  for  the  outdoor  exerciser, 
with  a  strong  wooden  crank  and  handle,  and  posts  and 
frame  to  support  these.  Figure  100  is  a  transverse  sec- 
tion of  the  same,  the  letters  in  both  cuts  referring  to 
the  same  parts.  Figure  100  is  drawn  to  a  scale  one- 
fourth  inch  to  a  foot.  The  same  thing,  only  larger  and 
stronger,  may  be  attached  to  the  axle  of  tilt  boxes.  All 
the  parts  are  pieces  of  plank  or  scantling,  excepting  the 
stick  marked  m  (cut  off  from  a  pole),  the  pin,  a,  which 
serves  as  a  handle,  and  the  smaller  pins  which  keep  the 
spool  in  position.  Inch  boards  and  2x4  and  2x6  dimen- 
sion stuff  are  the  principal  materials.  The  pins,  /,  i 


PERFECTING   THE   DETAILS. 


195 


and  as  also  the  handle,  a,  should  be  of  hard  wood.. 
The  pieces,  Jc  and  e,  have  each  a  half-moon  notch  for 
the  spool,  m,  to  turn  in.  The  crank,  #,  is  reinforced 
by  the  pieces,  c,  d  and  e,  to  strengthen  it  where  it 
encloses  the  square  shank  of  the  spool,  m;  also  the 
pieces,  y  and  h,  serve  to  give  a  firm  setting  to  the 
handle,  a. 


a 

FIG.  91.     TRANSVERSE  SECTION  OF  AXLE  SHAFT. 

In  the  vertical  section  given  in  Fig.  100,  the  imaginary 
line  of  cleavage  passes  through  the  exact  center  of  the 
windlass  or  spool  stick,  m,  lengthwise,  and  also  through 
the  handle,  a,  lengthwise. 

Instead  of  a  pouch  or  cylinder,  what  may  be  called  a 
sieve  may  be  used  for  dropping  feed.  Figure  101  illus- 
trates one  of  these  turned  bottom  up,  to  show  that  the 
bottom  is  made  with  a  double  slant,  and  consists  of  wire 
mesh  of  different  sizes,  like  that  in  a  cylinder  or  pouch, 
and  a  strip  of  tin  in  the  center,  this  last  serving  as  a 
floor  to  hold  the  grain  when  the  sieve  is  charged.  A 
long  row  of  these  sieves  may  be  fastened  to  an  iron  pipe 
by  bolts  passing  through  holes  drilled  in 


AN   EGG 


1 


PERFECTING   THE   DETAILS.  197 

Figure  104  shows  the  lid,  Pig.  105  gives  an  end  view  of 
the  sieve,  and  Fig.  106  a  series  of  sieves  in  position, 
each  over  a  separate  pen,  two  stout  wires  being  stretched 
under  the  sieves  to  hold  them  level.  The  hoppers  of 
tin  in  the  lid,  Figs.  104  and  100,  are  to  facilitate  charg- 
ing with  grain,  the  lid  being  necessary  to  keep  off  spar- 
rows and  pigeons.  Figure  108  gives  a  top  view  of  a 
sieve  when  the  lid  is  off.  To  drop  the  grain,  strike 
with  a  hammer  on  the  end  of  a  pipe  that  is  shown  in 
the  foreground  in  Fig.  106.  This  end  should  be  plugged 
with  iron  to  prevent  battering.  This  pipe  may  be  quite 
a  long  one  if  desired,  and  the  feed  will  drop  in  nearly 
the  same  quantity  at  every  sieve  affixed  throughout  its 
entire  length,  the  jar  being  practically  of  the  same  force 
at  one  end  of  the  pipe  as  at  the  other,  unless  the  pipe  is 
of  extreme  length.  A  coiled  spring  or  a  bar  spring,  not 
shown  in  the  cut,  should  be  attached,  to  bring  it  back 
to  the  first  position  after  each  blow  of  the  hammer. 

This  sieve  will  do  very  well  in  lieu  of  cylinders  for 
both  indoor  and  outdoor  exercisers  for  grown  fowls, 
but  cylinders  deliver  grain  in  more  accurate  doses  than 
sieves,  and  the  former  are  therefore  preferable  for 
brooder  chicks — for  things  must  be  done  exactly  thus 
and  so  with  small  chickens.  For  indoors,  where  cords 
or  wires  can  be  conveniently  attached  overhead,  this 
whole  line  of  sieves  may  be  suspended,  swing  fashion, 
instead  of  resting  on  a  framework.  In  this  case  no 
spring  is  needed,  the  whole  series  of  sieves  returning  by 
force  of  gravity  to  the  original  position  after  being 
jarred  by  the  blow  of  the  hammer.  This  method  of 
suspension  and  swinging  is  the  same  as  described  earlier 
in  this  book  in  connection  with  the  use  of  feed  shelves. 

A  hammer  to  be  held  in  the  hand  for  striking  a  row 
of  sieves  or  a  shelf  nearby,  should  weigh  one  to  three 
pounds,  according  as  the  shelf  or  the  pipe  connecting 
the  sieves  is  100  to  300  ft.  long.  For  a  row  of  distant 


198 


AX    EGG   FARM. 


PERFECTING  THE  DETAILS.  199 

sieves  have  a  pivoted  hammer,  Fig.  18,  Page  56,  and  a 
cord  which  readies  from  the  hammer  to  C,  passing  over 
two  sash  pulleys,  Fig.  19,  Page  58,  on  the  way.  This 
cord  can  extend  100  or  500  ft.,  or  more,  for  that  matter, 
to  where  the  operator  is.  It  may  extend  inside  your 
dwelling,  say  to  the  kitchen,  where  the  cook  can  give  it 
a  pull  from  time  to  time,  or  it  may  run  to  an  office, 
workshop  or  store,  or  be  attached  to  strong  clockwork 
that  is  wound  up  to  run  all  day,  and,  just  as  clocks  are 
made  to  strike  the  hours  or  half  hours,  so  the  pulls  on 
the  hammer- wire  connected  with  your  feed  dropper  may 
be  timed  with  equal  precision. 

The  tilt  boxes  for  both  brooder  chicks  and  grown 
fowls  will  need  larger  and  stronger  clockwork,  such  as 
is  attached  to  large  orchestrions  or  music-producing 
machines,  or  apparatus  used  in  gas  works,  in  hotels,  fac- 
tories or  private  dwellings,  where  the  motive  power  is 
very  heavy  weights.  Better  yet,  the  machinery  govern- 
ing the  periodical  pulls  will  be  propelled  by  a  steam 
engine,  electricity  or  water  power,  as  progress  demands ; 
for  the  idea  of  feeding  and  tending  fowls,  and  larger 
species  of  domestic  animals  as  well,  by  machinery,  is 
destined  to  be  expanded  indefinitely. 

To  return  to  Fig.  18,  of  course  the  sticks  to  which 
the  sash  pulleys  are  attached,  and  also  the  uprights, 
must  be  immovable.  Now,  will  the  reader  please  turn 
to  Page  170,  and  imagine  that  the  whole  of  the  appara- 
tus of  Fig.  75  is  placed  under  the  sash  pulleys,  close  to 
the  uprights  in  Fig.  18,  Page  56,  in  such  a  position  that 
when  the  hammer  is  dropped  it  will  strike,  kerchug, 
on  the  iron  plate,  li.  To  the  board,  a,  attach  the  iron 
pipe  which  supports  such  a  row  of  sieves  as  is  shown  in 
Fig.  106.  The  timber,  n,  is  immovable,  but  Ji,  m  and  #, 
with  the  100  or  200  ft.  or  more  of  pipe  attached,  are  all 
movable,  and  the  coiled  spring  is  compressible.  Now, 
when  the  hammer  strikes,  everything  in  Fig.  75  moves 


JBOO 


AN    EGG    FARM. 


PERFECTING    THE    DETAILS.  201 

excepting  n,  and  every  one  of  the  long  line  of  sieves 
supposed  to  be  attached  is  slightly  jarred,  and  then  the 
spring  makes  a  move,  forcing  the  whole  line  of  sieves 
back  again.  You  can  drop  grain  one  hundred  times  for 
each  charging,  and  only  a  spoonful  each  time. 

Pipe,  sieves,  operating  wire,  pulleys,  cord,  spring, 
concussion  plate,  h,  hammer,  etc.,  combine  to  effect  the 
same  purpose  as  is  indicated  by  the  wire,  weight,  spools 
and  long  pipe  with  cylinders  in  Figs.  82  and  84.  The 
feed  shelf  serves  the  same  purpose  as  the  sieves  and  the 
cylinders  heretofore  described,  except  that  it  is  not  as 
accurate  in  distributing  feed.  The  shelf  has  this  advan- 
tage,— it  is  not  necessary  to  use  grain  of  different  sizes, 
as  is  indispensable  when  the  cylinder  is  employed. 

When  you  strike  at  one  end  of  a  wooden  shelf  or  beam 
several  hundred  feet  long,  the  jar  is  felt  in  some  degree 
throughout  its  entire  length,  but  is  weakest  by  consid- 
erable at  the  point  most  distant  from  the  hammer.  In 
order,  therefore,  to  transmit  the  shock  better,  fasten  an 
iron  pipe,  rod  or  bar  to  the  boards.  In  Fig.  Ill,  e  rep- 
resents such  a  bar  fastened  to  the  board,  a.  The  con- 
cussion plate,  ^,  receives  the  blow.  The  board,  a,  in 
Fig.  17,  Page  55,  is  supposed  to  be  a  continuation  of 
the  board,  a,  in  Fig.  111.  After  a  blow  and  a  swing 
forward,  the  whole  long  shelf  swings  back  towards  the 
hammer,  and  meeting  the  stopper,  ?',  it  remains  at  rest 
awaiting  another  whack.  The  simplicity  of  the  employ- 
ment of  the  force  of  gravit5  to  effect  the  return  to 
place,  instead  of  the  use  of  ;i  spring,  commends  this 
style  of  feed  dropper,  and  besides,  tin  and  wire  mesh 
are  needed  for  feed  cylinders  and  sieves,  but  not  for 
feed  shelves  One  stroke  with  the  hammer  is  enough 
for  that  time 

To  keep  the  shelf  in  place,  fasten  two  casters  to  the 
board,  /,  these  boards,  with  the  end  pieces,  being 
attached  to  some  part  of  the  building  or  to  the  frame 


202 


AX    EGG    FARM. 


PERFECTING   THE    DETAILS.  203 

supporting  the  tilt  box,  so  as  to  be  stationary.  As  will 
be  obvious,  e,  a,  c,  li  and  d  are  movable,  but  /,  g  and  i 
are  immovable.  Two  ordinary  furniture  caster  wheels, 
Fig.  112,  travel  on  the  upper  side  of  a,  and  another  pair 
roll  against  the  under  surface  of  a,  the  shelf  swinging 
and  rolling  back  by  its  own  weight  after  a  stroke.  If 
the  shelf  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  or  more,  it 
should  be  widest  nearest  the  hammer,  and  as  you  go 
towards  the  farthest  end  and  the  jar  is  less,  each  suc- 
cessive section  board  should  be  narrower.  Begin  with  a 
board  ten  or  twelve  inches  wide,  and  diminish  to  a  width 
of  five  or  six  inches.  In  case  of  a  shelf  over  a  line  of 
exercisers  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long  or  upwards, 
the  boards  must  not  only  be  narrow  as  you  approach  the 
end  of  the  shelf  furthest  from  the  hammer,  but  they 
must  be  hung  so  as  to  be  slanting.  When  they  are  fas- 
tened together  put  wedge-shaped  cleats  between,  so  that 
each  board  shall  be  slightly  steeper  than  the  preceding 
one.  Figures  113  and  115  show  these  cleats  and  the 
varying  slants  of  the  boards,  e  being  a  slender  iron  bar 
firmly  attached  to  the  boards,  the  same  as  e  in  Fig.  111. 
This  bar  is  not  absolutely  indispensable  unless  the  shelf 
is  extremely  long.  It  is  not  to  strengthen  the  shelf, 
but,  as  previously  remarked,  to  transmit  the  jar  of  the 
hammer  better  than  wood  alone  will  do.  In  Figs.  105, 
113  and  115,  the  boards,  are  foreshortened  in  the  cuts 
so  as  to  occupy  moderate  space  and  show  the  idea  of  the 
cleats  and  the  slanting  position,  but  the  reader  must 
imagine  them  to  be,  in  practice,  ten,  twelve  or  fifteen 
feet  long  each. 

If  a  feed  shelf  is  indoors  it  is  supposed  to  need  no 
cover  to  protect  the  grain  from  pigeons,  sparrows,  stray 
fowls  and  rain.  For  outdoor  use,  however,  fasten  shal- 
low boxes  upon  your  shelf,  with  lids  opening  upwards, 
and  a  slot  cut  through  both  the  shelf  and  the  bottom  of 
the  box  at  one  side,  as  in  Fig.  109,  only  the  cut  gives  a 


204 


AK   EGG   FARM. 


box  not  long  enough  and  deeper 
than  is  necessary.  If  not  convenient 
to  hang  this  shelf  up  out  of  doors, 
you  can  put  a  caster  or  two  under  it 
every  fifteen  or  twenty  feet,  and  to 
send  it  back  to  first  position  after  a 
shock,  a  spring,  &,  can  be  arranged 
to  engage  with  the  bar,  e,  or  a  spiral 
spring  can  be  rigged  at  either  end  of 
the  feed  shelf  on  the  plan  shown  in 
Fig.  75.  See  also  Figs.  117  and  118. 
Figure  119  shows  how  the  ham- 
mer can  be  made  to  move  M  while 
N  remains  stationary.  The  stick, 
N9  and  the  other  scantling  near  6', 
as  also  the  one  above  N,  should  be 
fastened  to  stout  posts  if  outdoors, 

^i;  Is  or  if  indoors  to  the  frame  of  the 

I  <  building,  so  as  to  be  firm.  Two  such 
pulleys,  only  one  of  which,  however, 
could  be  shown  in  the  cut,  serve  to 
steer  the  cord,  C,  in  operating  the 
hammer,  and  also  to  turn  the  cord 
or  its  wire  continuation  to  a  course 
at  right  angles  to  the  hammer  han- 
dle, so  that  it  may  be  extended  to 
where  the  operator  stands,  hundreds 
of  feet  away.  Either  a  long  feed 
shelf  or  a  row  of  feed  sieves  may  be 
attached  to  M,  and  these  may  be 
supported  entirely  by  casters,  or  by 
swing  cords,  wires  or  jack  chains. 
Notice  a  cord,  R,  in  Fig.  119,  this 
being  one  of  a  row  of  cords.  The 

spiral  spring,  Fig.  107,  is  not  visible  in  Fig.  119,  but  may 


PERFECTING    THE    DETAILS.  205 

be  seen  in  Fig.  110.  When  the  suspension  plan  is 
adopted,  side  casters  only  just  enough  to  steer  the  shelf 
are  used ;  for  nearly  all  the  weight  should  be  suspended 
by  the  cords  or  wires.  Figure  122  shows  a  homemade 
style,  a  hard  baked  brick  or  a  brick-shaped  stone  being 
used  to  add  its  weight  to  that  of  the  hammer,  which 
consists  of  a  block  of  hard  wood.  This  brick,  B,  is  kept 
in  place  by  pieces  of  inch  board.  A  is  the  shelf,  at  the 
end  of  which  is  attached  the  concussion  block,  M.  As 
will  be  readily  understood,  M  and  A  move  at  a  blow, 
compressing  the  spiral  spring  against  the  stick,  jV, 
which,  with  its  attachments,  is  immovable. 


FIG.  98.     BLOCK  AND  BOLTS  TO 
FASTEN  TILT  BOX  TO  AXLES. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

FOR   SOFT    FEED. 

Now  we  have  described  thus  far  feed  cylinders,  feed 
sieves  and  feed  shelves,  whether  with  or  without  feed 
boxes  attached,  and  these  styles  will  all  answer  for  dry 
feed,  but  not  for  meal  dough,  cooked  vegetables,  soaked 
grain,  brewers'  grains,  fresh  meat  or  any  other  form  of 
moist  feed.  Ordinarily,  it  is  true,  dry  feed  is  to  be  pre- 
ferred for  both  young  and  old  birds.  They  will  soak 
their  grain  just  right  by  drinking  just  the  proper  quan- 
tity of  water. 

Dry  grain  not  only  affords  exercise,  but  is  better  any- 
how as  the  main  reliance,  apart  from  the  matter  of  exer- 
cise, except  for  fattening  fowls  just  at  the  finish.  For 
special  purposes,  however,  as  for  feeding  clucks,  for 
instance,  or  other  waterfowl,  which  demand  a  large  pro- 
portion of  soft  feed,  a  feed  trough  controlled  at  a  dis- 
tance, like  the  cylinder  sieve  or  shelf,  is  needed. 

Figures  123  and  124  give  side  views  of  such  a  feed 
trough,  and  Fig.  125  shows  a  transverse  section  of  the 
same,  the  letters  in  the  several  cuts  referring  to  the  same 
details.  Regarding  ducks,  see  Chapter  XXI  and  Fig.  86. 
A  good  way  is  to  have  a  water  tank,  Fig.  86,  at  one  end 
of  a  long  runway,  Y9  of  low,  movable,  covered  hurdles, 
which  may  be  shifted  so  that  the  ground  may  be  plowed 
to  freshen  it,  and  a  trough,  such  as  we  are  about  to 
describe,  at  the  other  end.  In  both  the  side  views  of 
this  feed  trough,  Figs.  123  and  124,  will  be  seen  a  row 
of  upright  slats,  through  which  the  birds  thrust  their 
heads  to  feed.  The  fowls  stand  on  the  floor,  a.  The 

206 


FOK    SOFT   FEED. 


feed  is  placed  in  the  box  or  trough,  n  v,  the  lid,  n,  being 
raised  for  that  purpose.  The  pieces  of  scantling,  r,  s,  u, 
are  the  frame  of  the  feed  trough.  The  feed  rests,  of 
course,  on  the  bottom  board,  v.  When  the  doors,  d,  are 


FIG.  99.     AVOODEX  SPOOL,   FRAME,  ETC. 


dropped,  as  in  Fig.  123,  the  fowls  can  put  their  heads 
between  the  upright  slats  and  reach  the  feed,  but  when 
these  doors  are  being  raised  toward  the  position  shown  in 


20$ 


EGG    FARM. 


Fig.  124,  the  birds  will  naturally  withdraw  their  heads, 
the  doors  being  raised  gently  and  gradually. 

The  construction  of  the  doors  is  as  follows ;  The 
board,  d,  Figs.  123  and  124,  is  of  equal  width  at  both 
ends  and  the  tapering  board,  c,'is  nailed  to  it  firmly. 


FIG.   100.      TRANSVERSE   SECTION  OF  FIGURE  99. 

This  board,  c,  is  protected  at  e  by  a  bolt  or  pin,  so  that 
d  and  c  both  rise  together  when  the  cord,  i,  is  pulled. 
At/1,  g,  there  is  a  slot  cut  in  the  board,  d,  to  enable  it  to 
be  raised  or  lowered  without  being  stopped  by  the  pin,  e. 
A  flat,  horseshoe-shaped  piece  of  iron,  /,  g,  is  attached 


FOR   SOFT   FEED. 


209 


to  the  board,  d,  next  to  and  partly  surrounding  the  slot, 
to  give  d  strength  when  the  cord  i  is  pulled. 

All  the  cords  pass  over 
side  pulleys  fastened  to  / 
posts,  and  all  these  cords 
are  attached  to  a  wire,  li, 
so  that  when  this  wire  is 
pulled  all  the  doors,  d,  c, 
are  raised,  as  in  Fig.  124. 
At  the  top  of  each  post 
is  another  side  pulley  over 
which  passes  a  cord,  one 
end  of  which  is  attached 
to  a  weight  and  the  other 
to  the  door,  d,  the  latter 
being  slightly  the  heavier. 
These  weights  render  it 
easier,  of  course,  to  pull 
the  wire,  h.  We  call  h  a 
"wire,"  because,  for  out- 
door use,  a  wire  is  better 
than  a  cord,  the  latter 
being  affected  by  rains. 
In  fact,  it  is  well  to  sub- 
stitute for  the  cord,  i,  a 
small  chain  such  as  are 
on  the  market,  latterly 
made  on  purpose  for  pul- 
ley work. 

In  all  three  cuts,  w  rep- 
resents a  trip  gong  bell, 
Fig.  126,  operated  by  the 
bell  wire,  x,  which  may 
be  of  annealed  steel,  Xo. 
16,  sold  on  spools,  Fig. 
127.  This  bell  or  some  other  style  of  bell,  or  an  aural 
U 


FIG.  101.     A  FEEDING  SIEVE. 


210 


AN    EGG   FARM. 


signal  of  some  sort,  is  necessary,  as  heretofore  explained, 
to  call  the  birds  to  their  meals. 


In  Fig.  125  is  seen  one  of  the  slats,  m,  nailed  by  toe- 
ing, as  all  the  slats  are,  to  the  narrow  side  board  or  rim, 


FOR   SOFT  FEED.  211 

#,  which  runs  the  whole  length  of  the  feed  trough,  to 
hold  the  feed  and  to  keep  the  birds  from  wasting  it. 
The  door  is  guided  by  passing  between  b  and  c.  The 
floor,  a,  is  nailed  to  the  crosspiece,  o,  which  is  spiked  to 
a  short  post.  Of  course,  there  are  boards  and  wire  net- 
ting to  keep  the  birds  from  getting  under  the  floor,  a, 
and  from  flying  above  the  slats;  but  as  these  do  not 
directly  concern  the  feeding  apparatus  they  were  omitted 
from  the  cut.  The  wire  should  be  kept  constantly  taut 
by  a  weight  of  one  to  three  pounds  attached  to  each 
end,  where  the  wire  should  pass  over  a  pulley  wheel 
about  six  inches  in  diameter.  The  weight  furthest  from 
the  operator  should  meet  a  shelf  and  find  rest  at  the 
same  instant  the  doors,  d,  strike  the  ground,  the  weight 
remaining  on  this  shelf  until  the  operator  pulls  the  wire 
again.  The  weight  near  the  operator  should  be  only 
just  heavy  enough  to  take  up  the  slack  of  the  wire. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE   ALTERNATE   AND   PARALLEL   SYSTEMS. 

The  shape  and  arrangement  of  the  tilt  boxes  should 
vary  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  poultry  keeper. 
Instead  of  the  openings  on  the  tilt  boxes  for  ingress  and 
egress  being  at  the  end,  as  in  Figs.  71,  76,  78  and  141, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  have  them  on  the  side,  in  case  of 
an  extensive  plant  for  winter  chicks,  when  they  are 
warmed  by  hot- water  pipes  in  the  usual  way.  But, 
whether  the  openings  are  at  the  side  or  the  end,  the 
ingress  and  egress  is  cut  off  at  the  half  tilt. 

When  the  exit  openings  are  at  the  ends  of  the  tilt 
boxes,  a  stationary  box  or  apartment  alternates  with  a 
tilt  box  in  a  row  or  series,  hence,  for  the  sake  of  con- 
venience, we  will  call  this  the  alternate  method.  Another 
method  we  call  the  parallel  method,  in  which  the  tilt 
box,  if  for  grown  fowls,  may  be  twenty,  fifty,  or  one 
hundred  feet,  or  more,  long,  divided  by  partitions  into 
sections  for  the  various  flocks,  the  stationary  boxes 
being  in  a  row  adjoining  and  parallel  to  the  row  of  tilt 
boxes,  and  the  exit  openings  of  the  tilt  boxes  being  at 
the  side.  The  parallel  system  will  be  fully  explained 
further  on. 

The  description  of  the  indoor  exerciser  for  grown 
fowls  on  the  alternate  system  is  as  follows  :  In  the 
interior  views,  Figs.  77  and  128,  P  is  a  passage  for  the 
attendant.  This  house  is  built  with  its  sidewalks  mostly 
underground,  therefore  the  windows  are  set  high  and 
not  shown  in  these  two  cuts,  although  the  camera  has 
revealed  the  light  from  them  on  the  floor  of  the  passage. 

212 


THE    ALTERNATE    AND   PARALLEL   SYSTEMS.         213 


The  small  coops  with  slanting  sides,  Fig. 
tilt  box,  T,  are  to  shut  birds 
in    temporarily,    for    sale    or 
other    purposes,    and    have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  exer- 
ciser,   bnt   are   put    there   to 
utilize  the  vacant  space  under 
the  front  portion  of   the  tilt 
boxes,  the  slant  at  the  front 
of  these  coops  being  designed 
to  keep  them  out  of  the  way 
of   the  attendant's  feet.     As    3 
is  obvious,   Figs.   77  and  128    5 
both  represent  the  same  in- 
terior.    In  each  cut,  a  station-    % 
ary  box  is  in  the  foreground    I 
and  stationary  boxes  alternate    -5 
with  tilt  boxes  all  along  the    * 
line  through  the  whole  length    » 
of   the  building.     Under  the    | 
stationary    boxes    are    laying    3 
apartments,    fifteen    inches    * 
"between   joints,"   in  which    o 
are   nests    which    are    acces-    i 

s 

sible  to  the   attendant   from    * 
the  passage,  P. 

The  exits  for  the  fowls  to  ? 
gain  access  to  their  yards  from 
the  stationary  boxes  are  not 
shown  in  Figs.  77  and  128,  as 
they  are  on  the  side  of  the 
building  opposite  the  passage. 
The  side  of  the  tilt  box  repre- 
sented at  T  rises  at  the  begin- 
ning of  tilting.  By  reference 
to  the  ground  plan,  Fig.  130, 


'7,  under  the 


214 


EGG    FARM. 


and  the  transverse  section,  Fig.  129,  the  positions  of 
some  of  the  most  important  parts  of  the  frame  of  this 
building  are  shown,  the  letters  referring  to  the  same 

sticks  of   2x4  and  2x6  in 
all  four  cuts.    Figs.  128  and 

129  show  the  slant  of  the 
"shed   roof."      Through- 
out Figs.  77,  128,  129  and 

130  the  same  letters  indi- 
cate the  same  things. 

In  the  ground  plan,  Fig. 
130,  the  foundations  of  the 
brick  walls  at  the  sides 
are  shown,  the  end  walls 
not  being  included,  as  a 
portion  only  of  a  continu- 
ous building  several  hun- 
dred feet  long  is  intended 
to  be  represented.  The 
width  of  the  building  in 
Fig.  129  is  8  1-4  ft.,  the 
passage,  P,  being  8  ft, 
wide.  There  is  a  space  of 
1  ft.  between  the  tilt  boxes 
and  the  wall  to  give  room 
for  tilting.  The  posts,  a, 
d,  c  and  0,  support  the 
roof,  the  tilt  boxes,  station- 
ary boxes  and  nesting 
rooms,  a  and  d  being  2x4 
and  c  and  o  being  2x6. 

FIG.  104.   LID  OF  FEED  SIEVE.  Figure   129   is   a   trans- 

verse section  substantially 

at  an  imaginary  line  passing  through  a  in  the  ground 
plan,  Fig.  130,  the  liberty  usual  in  such  cases,  however, 
permits  c,  I  and  g  to  appear  in  the  cut,  although  these 


THE   ALTERNATE   AND    PARALLEL   SYSTEMS.         215 

three  sticks  are  slightly  further  toward  the  rear  or  back- 
ground than  the  post,  a.  In  Fig.  129,,  E  represents  an 
exit  for  the  fowls,  closed  bj  a  small  door  opening  up- 
ward, as  shown  by  the  dotted  lines.  TFis  a  window,  like- 
wise hinged  at  the  top  and  opening  in  the  same  way  as 
the  exits.  The  exit  doors,  leading  to  the  outside  yards 
in  a  building  hundreds  of  feet  long,  are  all  raised  or 
lowered  at  one  operation,  and  the  same  applies  to  the 
windows,  although  the  device  for  accomplishing  this  im- 
portant purpose,  a  great  labor  saver,  could  not  well  be 
shown  in  this  cut.  As  the  windows  and  exit  doors  fall 
and  are  held  in  place  by  their  weight,  augmented  by  a 
brick  or  a  portion  of  one  attached  to  each,  or,  as  is  the 
case  in  our  own  building,  photographed  for  Figs.  77  and 


FIG.  105.      END  VIEW   OF  FEED  SIEVE. 

128,  a  box  of  sand  nailed  to  each,  the  slanting  position 
when  closed  is  essential  to  the  success  of  this  plan.  As 
is  plain,  e  and/"  are  pu rimes  that  extend  the  whole  length 
of  the  building,  being  shown  in  three  of  the  cuts.  In 
Fig.  129,  the  slight  notching  at  the  edge  of  c  shows  where 
the  iron  axle  of  Crests.  The  building  is  underground 
as  far  as  the  tops  of  the  brick  walls  in  this  cut  and  the' 
roof  is  of  inch  boards  covered  with  the  best  quality  of 
felt  paper  and  finished  with  two  coats  best  cement  applied 
hot,  and  on  top  of  all  is  placed  eight  inches  of  straw,  and 
on  the  straw  cornstalks  and  brush  to  withstand  the  wind. 
This  sort  of  roof  and  the  underground  feature  secure 
warmth  in  winter  and  coolness  in  summer.  When  the 
temperature  is  90  degrees  outside  it  is  but  80  degrees 
inside. 


216 


EGG   FARM. 


THE   ALTEKKATE   AND   PARALLEL   SYSTEMS. 


217 


mm  w\w\\\\\W 


FIG.  107.     SPIRAL,  SPRING. 


The  tilt  boxes  are  placed  with  the  under  surfaces  of 
their  floors  2  1-2  ft.  higher  than  the  floor  of  the  passage, 
and  are  2  1-4  ft.  high,  with  bottoms  3  1-2  it.xG  ft.,  the 
G  ft.  distance  being  parallel  to  the  passage.  The  sta- 
tionary box  serves  as  a  roost  and  is  5  ft.  3  in.x3  ft.,  the 
3  ft.  distance  being  parallel  to  the  passage.  The  floor  of 
the  stationary  box  is  8  in.  higher  than  the  floor  of  the 

tilt  box,  to  allow  for  the  depth 
of  the  litter  in  the  latter.  The 
posts  which  support  the  tilt 
boxes,  stationary  boxes  and 
feed  cylinders,  see  a  and  d  in 
Figs.  77,  129  and  130,  and  a  and  c  in  Figs.  129  and  130, 
extend  from  the  floor  of  the  building  to  the  roof. 

Passing  now  to  a  consideration  of  the  indoor  exerciser 
on  the  parallel  plan,  the  reader  is  asked  to  turn  to  Fig. 
132,  representing  a  perspective  of  a  house  for  layers  or  a 
section  of  it,  enough  to  show  the  idea,  Fig.  117  being  a 
transverse  section  of  the  same,  Fig.  118  a  longitudinal 
section,  and  Fig.  135  a  ground  plan,  the  same  letters  in 
each  of  these  four  referring  to  the  same  things.  The 
parallel  system  is  preferable  in  some  important  respects 
to  the  alternate  system  just  described. 

The  elevation, 
Fig.  132,  needs  little 
description,  and  we 
call  attention  only  to 
the  windows,  which, 
as  will  be  observed, 
are  slanting  when  closed,  as  explained  in  the  case  of  the 
building  previously  described.  In  ordinary  windows,  the 
sash  are  made  smaller  than  the  window  frames,  the  latter 
enclosing  the  former.  But  when  a  large  number  of  win- 
dows are  to  be  raised  or  lowered  simultaneously  in  a 
building,  the  sash  should  be  larger  than  the  window 
frames  and  the  former  should  overlap  the  latter  so  that 


FIG.  108.     TOP  VIEW  OF  SIEVE. 


218 


EGG    FARM. 


ho  swelling  of  the  sasli  by  dampness  will  cause  it  to  stick. 

The  sash  must  have 
weights,  preferably  flat 
bars  of  metal,  fastened  on 
to  hold  them  down  snugly 
in  case  of  hard  winds.  If 
the  casings  were  set  per- 
pendicularly, a  hard  wind 
would  be  apt  to  move  the 
sash,  in  spite  of  the 
weight,  at  times  when 
the  admission  of  cold  air 
would  be  very  undesirable. 
To  the  bottom  of  each 
sash  an  ordinary  sash  cord 
is  attached,  each  cord 
passing  through  a  screw 
pulley,  Fig.  134,  fastened 
to  the  underside  of  the 
roof.  The  whole  series  of 
cords  is  attached  to  a  half- 
inch  iron  pipe,  located  a 
few  feet  below  the  screw 
pulleys,  and  attached  to 
convenient  portions  of  the 
building  where  it  is  the 
most  out  of  the  way.  This 
pipe  is,  of  course,  as  long 
as  the  row  of  windows  and 
is  set  loosely  in  staples  or 
in  holes  bored  in  wood  so 
as  to  be  free  to  turn.  For 
each  cord,  a  small  hole  is 
drilled  through  the  pipe 
to  receive  a  nail,  to  which 
the  cord  is  attached  in 


THE   ALTERNATE   AND    PARALLEL   SYSTEMS.         219 

such  a  way  that  it  will  be  wound  up  on  the  pipe  when 
the  latter  is  turned,  by  means  of  a  large  hand  wheel,  Fig. 
133,  which  is  attached  to  one  end  of  the  pipe  within 
reach  of  the  operator. 

The  windows  may  all  be  opened  a  fraction  of  an  inch, 
or  several  inches  or  wide  open,  with  the  greatest  ease 
and  dispatch  in  two  or  three  seconds,  and  partly  or 
wholly  closed  as  quickly,  and  can  be  moved  many  times 
a  day  to  suit  varying  wind  and  weather,  a  very  impor- 
tant thing  which  would  be  impossible  if  each  window 
were  to  be  moved  by  hand.  In  a  large  establishment, 
like  ours  photographed  for  this  book,  there  are  several 
hundred  windows,  and  it  must  be  recollected  that  violent 
gales  sometimes  rise  so  suddenly  that  twenty  men  or  fifty 
men  could  not  close  them  all  by  hand  quickly  enough. 
The  set  of  windows  in  Fig.  132  is  on  the  same  side  as  the 
tilt  boxes,  and  a  similar  row  of  windows  is  supposed  to 
be  on  the  side  not  shown  in  this  cut.  The  yards  are  also 
on  the  side  not  shown,  but  their  position  is  indicated  by 
y  in  Fig.  117. 

Figure  117  gives  a  tran verse  section  substantially 
through  m  in  the  ground  plan,  Fig.  135.  The  yard  fences, 
y,  run  in  a  direction  parallel  to  the  end  walls  of  the  build- 
ing and  enclose  as  many  yards  as  there  are  tilt  boxes. 
The  posts,  6'1  and  £2,  reach  to  the  roof.  The  short  post, 
Ic,  forms  one  of  the  supports  to  the  passage  platform,  g. 
This  platform  is  the  principal  line  of  travel  used  by  the 
attendant,  who  can,  however,  also  go  the  whole  length  of 
the  building  between  cl  and  the  wall,  but  in  doing  so 
must  open  a  door  at  each  room  he  passes  through. 
Nearly  all  the  work  is  done  in  passage,  g.  Labor  saving 
forbids  handling  doors,  except  when  unavoidable,  and, 
be  it  repeated,  commercial  poultry  keeping  can  be  prof- 
itable only  when  the  utmost  care  and  ingenuity  are 
employed  in  every  operation,  from  a  to  izzard,  to  save 


220 


AN"    EGG   FARM. 


labor.  The  fowls  have  the 
use  of  the  floor,  /,  from  the 
tilt  box,  t,  to  the  wall  at  y. 
The  dots  at  d  show  the 
position  of  a  feed  cylinder 
over  the  tilt  box,  and  the 
dots  at  e  show  the  position 
of  the  call  cylinder,  which 
drops  feed  to  keep  the  birds 
out  of  the  tilt  box  while  the 
latter  is  being  tilted.  The 
operation  of  this  sort  of  tilt 
box  with  opening  on  side 
will  be  described  in  another 
place.  The  pit,  p,  is  a  foot 
deep,  which  is  deeper  than 
is  needed  for  tilting,  but  as, 
in  spite  of  all  precautions, 
a  fowl  will  sometimes  escape 
and,  roaming  through  the 
passage,  g,  blunder  over  be- 
hind the  tilt  box  next  the 
wall,  space  enough  in  the 
pit  must  be  afforded  to 
avoid  crushing  the  vagrant. 
It  will  be  plain  enough  that 
the  tilt  box  tilts  toward  the 
wall  and  that  the  surface  of 
the  ground  outside  the 
building  is  not  far  from  the 
top  of  the  underpinning, 
hence  p  is  described  as  •  a 
pit.  The  crosspiece,  n,  sup- 
ports the  floor,  r.  The  tilt 
box  aperture  to  admit  the 
fowls  is  on  the  side  next  to 


THE   ALTERNATE   AKD   PARALLEL  SYSTEMS.         221 


222  AN   EGG   FARM. 

k  and  the  wire  netting,  i,  is  to  confine  a  fowl  during 
tilting,  should  one  chance  to  remain  in  the  tilt  box,  a 
thing  very  unlikely  to  occur,  however,  unless  the  bird  is 
a  new  acquisition,  an  untrained  recruit. 

The  longitudinal  section  of  the  same  building,  Fig. 
118,  is  substantially  on  a  line  through  c2  in  the  trans- 
yerse  section,  Fig.  117,  and  through  the  same  upright 
post,  c2,  in  the  ground  plan,  Fig.  135.  In  Fig.  118,  the 
room  between  c2  and  c2  is  given  to  one  flock,  that  is,  the 
space  is  devoted  to  one  apartment  or  stationary  box,  two 
call  cylinders,  e,  e,  being  employed  so  as 
to  drop  grain  over  space  enough  to  give 
all  the  birds  a  fair  chance. 

There  is  only  a  single  perch  for  each 
flock  and  this  is  not  shown,  as  it  is  not 
in  line,  but  it  is  placed  over  the  roost 
floor,  r,  and  extends  the  whole  length  of 
the  room  from  c2  to  c2.  A  scantling,  v, 

FIG.  112.     CASTER 

WHEEL  UNDER  reaching  from  w  to  w,  supports  the  floor 
of  the  nesting  apartment,  x,  the  top  of 
this  apartment  being  indicated  by  u,  just  over  which 
runs  the  cylinder  axle.  The  movable  nest  boxes  are 
made  so  that  they  can  be  easily  reached  by  the  attendant 
from  the  passage,  g,  in  Fig.  117. 

The  ground  plan,  Fig.  135,  calls  for  but  slight  descrip- 
tion after  it  has  been  compared  with  the  vertical  sec- 
tions. The  space  separated  by  the  dotted  lines  in  which 
the  blocks,  m,  stand,  is,  of  course,  devoted  to  the  con- 
tinuous tilt  box  divided  by  partitions  into  smaller  tilt 
boxes.  This  multiform  or  compound  tilt  box  is  as  long 
as  the  whole  building,  minus  a  little  at  one  end,  where 
the  stairs  are  which  lead  to  the  attendant's  passage, 
these  stairs  being  indicated  by  s,  s,  near  which  is  the 
outside  door.  This  multiform  tilt  box  muse  have 
attached  either  the  winch,  Fig.  138,  or  the  long  lever, 
Fig.  88,  and,  in  case  the  latter  is  employed,  a  short  wing 


THE   ALTERNATE   ART)   PARALLEL  SYSTEMS. 


or  ell  must  be  added  to  the  main  build- 
ing, to  give  the  lever  room  to  describe 
an  arc. 

The  rooms,  or  stationary  boxes  as  we 
have  named  their  equivalent  in  other 
outs,  for  the  separate  flocks  may  be  seen 
on  this  ground  plan  .if  the  reader  will 
imagine  a  line  drawn  from  each  block,  m, 
through  k,  c2,  c\  and  thence  to  the  wall. 
By  referring  to  the  transverse  section,  Fig. 
117,  it  will  be  obvious  that  each  flock  will 
have  a  nesting  apartment  and  a  roost,  a 
ladder  being  furnished  for  the  convenience 
of  the  birds.  The  need  of  a  piece  of  coarse 
wire  netting  under  and  at  one  side  of  the 
call  cylinders  will  be  evident,  to  Keep  the 
fowls  away  and,  at  the  same  time,  allow 
feed  to  drop  on  the  floor.  5 

Among  other  merits  of  the  parallel  plan  £ 
for  arrarging  the  tilt  boxes,  we  enumer- 
ate :  First,  the  birds  have  the  benefit  of 
the  space  under  the  passage,  g ;  second, 
the  nests,  the  perches  and  all  the  feed 
cylinders  are  very  convenient  of  access  by 
the  attendant,  and  third,  the  tilt  box  is 
narrow  in  proportion  to  its  length,  thereby 
facilitating  the  tilting.  Build  all  the 
boxes  narrow  and  of  thin,  light  lumber. 

The  tilt  box  is,  as  before  stated,  one 
continuous  box  supported  by  the  axle,  I, 
which  rests  on  the  blocks,  m,  in  such  a 
position  that  when  the  tilt  box  is  level 
its  underside  is  one  inch  higher  than  the 
upper  surface  of  the  floor,/.  The  con- 
tinuous box,  several  hundred  feet  long,  is 
divided  into  apartments  by  board  parti- 


224: 


AN   EGG   FARM. 


tions,  these  apartments  being  in  length  the  same  as  from 
the  center  of  one  block,  m,  to  the  center  of  the  next 
block,  m. 

It  is  important  to  have  the  axle  for  tilt  boxes  for 
layers  large  and  strong,  if  it  is  a  long  one.     The  strain 


FIG.  114.      A   SUBSTITUTE   FOll   TILT  BOX.      SKE  P.  161. 

caused  by  the  section  used  by  one  flock  of  fowls  is  not 
great,  but,  by  extending  the  multiform  box  through  a 
long  building,  the  strain  becomes  greater  than  would  be 
supposed.  The  axle  can  safely  be  of  smaller  calibre  at 
the  end  farthest  from  the  operator.  For  a  building  one 
hundred  feet  or  more  in  length,  a  two-inch  iron  pipe, 


THE    ALTERNATE    AND    PARALLEL    SYSTEMS. 


225 


reinforced  by  the  collar  at  each  joint,  Fig. 
35,  is  suitable  for  the  first  fifty  feet  at  the 
end  nearest  the  attendant.  The  lever,  if  one 
is  used,  should  be  six  to  twelve  feet  long,  ac- 
cording to  the  length  of  the  axle.  A  winch, 
Fig.  138,  is  preferable  if  the  axle  is  long,  and 
the  handle  of*  this  winch  should  be  strong 
and  made  to  be  grasped  by  both  hands. 

If  there  are  ten  or  twelve  tilt  box  apart- 
ments attached  to  the  same  axle,  they  should 
be  3  1-2x8  ft.  and  2  1-4  ft.  deep.  If  fifteen 
or  twenty  apartments,  they  should  be  3x10 
ft.  or  3x12  ft,  according  to  the  size  of  the 
flocks  ;  for  it  is  readily  understood  that  the 
narrower  the  tilt  boxes,  other  things  being 
equal,  the  easier  it  is  to  rotate  them.  After 
determining  their  width,  you  contrive  the 
width  of  the  building  and  the  location  of  the 
posts,  which  last  determines  the  size  of  the 
stationary  boxes  or  apartments  under  the  call 
cylinders.  In  Figs.  117  and  135  the  tilt  box- 
is  3  ft.  wide.  Be  sure  to  avoid  making  your 
tilt  boxes  too  wide.  Use  thin,  light-weight 
boards. 

In  Fig.  117,  and  in  all  other  instances  in 
the  parallel  system,  the  birds  must  enter  at 
the  side  of  the  tilt  boxes,  of  course,  as  in 
Figs.  131,  142  and  144.  Also  the  tilt  boxes 
for  brooder  chicks  should  be  rounded  a  little 
on  the  front  side.  In  Fig.  142,  S  represents 
the  stationary  box,  Y  the  yard  out  of  doors, 
T  the  tilt  box,  and  J^a  curved  flap  to  shut 
off  ingress  and  egress  at  the  opening  between 
T  and  S.  Compare  this  cut  with  Fig.  73 
and  observe  the  dotted  line,  which  shows  the 
half  tilt  and  the  full  tilt.  The  feed  cylin- 
15 


226 


AX    EGG   FARM. 


der,  or  a  feed  shelf  if  preferred,  is  at  10  and  the  feed 
drops  toward  T  through  the  curved  partition  of  wire, 
one-inch  mesh.  In  both  cuts,  this  wire  mesh  is  indi- 
cated in  various  places  by  small  crosses.  As  is  obvious, 


the  chicks  cannot  enter  the  space  over  the  tilt  box  be- 
tween S  and  Y.  The  reader  should  study  carefully  the 
ground  plan,  Fig.  140.  P  is  a  passage  or  alley  for  the 
attendant,  dug  in  the  ground  two  feet,  so  as  to  bring 
the  floor,  S,  to  a  hight  convenient  for  the  attendant, 


THE   ALTERNATE    AXD    PARALLEL   SYSTEMS. 


227 


in  which  case,  if  3  is  OR  a  level  with  the  ground  out- 
side the  brooder  house,  a  pit  must  be  dug  to  give  the  tilt 
box  room  to  turn,  as  in  the  case  of  the  tilt  box  for  grown 
fowls,  Fig.  117,  where  t  is  the  tilt  box  and  p  the  pit. 
The  construction  of  the  floor  of  the  passage  for  the  at- 
tendant on  the  same  level  with  the  stationary  boxes, 
brooders  or  layers,  as  in  Fig.  136,  we  utterly  condemn. 


-CO 


FIG.  117.     TRANSVERSE  SECTION  OF  HOUSE  FOR  LAYERS.  (SEE  FIG.  132.) 

The  rules  of  convenience  and  labor  saving  are  against 
it,  and  why  so  many  manufacturers  of  brooders  perpetu- 
ate the  nuisance  is  past  our  comprehension.  As  well 
might  the  counter  of  the  salesman  or  the  workbench  of 
the  mechanic  be  on  a  level  with  the  floor.  The  brooder 
is  the  poulterer's  workbench. 

In  the  parallel  plan  for  brooder  house,  the  tilt  boxes 
should  be  double,  being  built  for  two  broods  with  a  par- 


228 


AH   EGG   FARM. 


tition  of  wire  netting,  one-inch  mesh.  See  Fig.  131. 
For  the  younglings,  this  is  better  than  the  continuous  or 
multiform  tilt  box  used  for  layers,  Fig.  117.  In  the  ground 
plan,  Fig.  140,  the  wire  partition  dividing  the  double 
tilt  boxes  is  represented  by  small  crosses.  Each  brood 
has  an  alley,  e,  &ix  inches  wide,  communicating  with  Y 
and  S,  this  alley  being  closed  to  suit  occasions  by  small 
doors,  one  at  each  end.  These  doors,  however,  are  not 
shown  in  the  cut. 


FIG.  118.    LONGITUDINAL  SECTION  OF  HOUSE  FOR  LAYERS.    (SEE  FIG.  132.) 

If  the  brooder  house  is  a  long  one,  similar  in  external 
appearance  to  the  one  shown  in  Fig.  103,  and  heated  by 
hot  water,  the  parallel  system  should  be  followed,  and 
by  a  little  ingenuity  room  can  be  contrived  to  locate  tilt 
boxes  in  any  brooder  house  that  is  constructed  substan- 
tially like  Fig.  137,  although  not  built  with  reference 
to  their  adoption.  If,  however,  each  brooder  is  heated 
by  a  separate  lamp,  the  alternate  system,  Figs.  102,  103 
and  141,  should  be  followed.  In  any  brooder  house 


THE    ALTERNATE    AXD    PARALLEL    SYSTEMS. 


229 


already  built,  that  is  arranged  essentially  like  Fig.  136, 
tilt  boxes  can  be  introduced.  Whenever  tilt  boxes  are 
put  into  a  building  of  this  sort  or  of  the  kind  shown  in 
Fig.  102,  it  will  be  necessary  to  dig  a  pit  in  which  the 


m 


winch  or  lever  may  turn  and  the  attendant  stand  while 
operating  the  same. 

If  you  hatch  chickens  artificially  on  a  small  scale, 
using  only  two,  three  or  four  brooders  at  a  time,  the 
best  way  will  be  to  adopt  the  alternate  plan  and  have  no 
continuous  axle  with  its  lever  or  crank,  and  dispense  also 
with  feed  cylinders  or  feed  shelves.  Rotate  each  tilt  box 


230 


AX    EGG    i'ARM. 


separately,  by  hand,  just  as  you  would  rock  a  cradle, 
each  having  a  separate  axle  made  by  nailing  a  stick,  one 
and  one-half  or  two  inches  square,  across  the  bottom  of 
the  tilt  box,  at  the  under  side,  and  letting  it  project  a 
couple  of  inches  beyond  the  ends  of  the  box,  these  ends 
to  be  rounded,  and  each  to  rest  in  a  notch  of  correspond- 
ing size  cut  in  the  edge  of  a  horizontal  bearing  piece  of 

inch  board.  A  good 
shape  for  such  a  box  is 
seen  in  Fig.  143. 

Of  course,  you  walk  to 
each  tilt  box  in  succes- 
sion, and  do  without  feed 
cylinders  by  sprinkling  a 
pinch  of  millet  or  other 
fine  feed  by  hand  twice 
every  time  you  tilt  the 
box,  one  pinch  to  call 
them  cut  of  the  tilt  box 
to  begin  with.  No  signal 
will  be  needed  to  call 
them.  Their  quick  eyes 
will  watch  your  every 
motion.  You  can  set  a 

tilt  box,  then  a  brooder  or  stationary  box,  for  they  are 
both  the  same  thing;  then  a  tilt  box,  then  a  brooder, 
right  alongside  of  an  alley  three  feet  wide,  which  is  sunk 
two  feet  in  the  ground  for  the  attendant  to  walk  in,  or 
you  can  set  the  brooder  and  the  frame  which  supports 
the  tilt  box  on  legs  two  feet  long,  as  in  Figs.  78,  79  and 
80.  The  brooders  should  communicate  with  little  yards 
or  long  narrow  runways,  with  small  outdoor  exercisers 
attached,  but  for  the  first  fifteen  or  twenty  days  of  the 
younglings'  existence  there  need  be  no  going  out  doors  at 
all,  if  you  operate  the  tilt  box  often.  The  floor  of  the 
stationary  box  or  brooder  should  be  two  inches  higher 


FIG.  120.     CRANK  MADE  OF  PIPING. 


THE   ALTERNATE   AND   PARALLEL   SYSTEMS.         231 

than  the  floor  of  the  tilt  box,  to  allow  for  the  thickness 
of  the  two-inch  layer  of  cut  hay  or  chaff  in  the  latter. 
You  can  use  lamps  and  either  hot  water  or  hot  air  for 
your  brooders,  when  you  have  but  a  small  number. 

Now,  if  you  have  eight,  ten  or  more  brooders  occu- 
pied at  the  same  time,  use  the  alternate  system  and 
sunken  alley  above  described,  and  attach  all  your  tilt 
boxes  to  a  continuous  axle  furnished  with  a  crank  and 
nse  feed  cylinders, 
as  in  Fig.  79.  The 
axle  may  be  of  three- 
quarter  inch  or  inch 
iron  pipe  arid  must  KG.  121.  PIECE  FOR  ATTACHING  SHAFT 

T  ,  i  TO  SPOOL. 

pass  under  the  sta- 
tionary boxes,  or  brooders  or  hovers,  as  they  may  be  called, 
on  its  way  from  one  tilt  box  to  the  next. 

Under  this  plan,  of  course,  you  do  not  have  to  go  from 
one  box  to  the  other,  but  stand  at  one  end  of  the  axle, 
where  you  tilt  all  afc  once.  The  quantity  and  kind  of 
feed  needed  for  each  brood,  according  to  the  number  of 
birds  composing  it  and  their  age,  is  provided  for  when 
the  feed  cylinders  are  charged,  which  will  ordinarily  be 
but  once  a  day,  with  the  dry  grain,  which  should  be  the 
main  feed. 

Green  stuff  and  meat  may  be  fed  in  the  usual  manner, ' 
it  being  not  adapted  to  the  feed  cylinder.  One  of  the 
merits  of  the  system  of  poultry  keeping  by  machinery  is 
that  the  birds,  both  young  and  old,  can  digest  plain, 
dry,  uncooked  grain  and  thrive  upon  it  with  very  little 
else,  excepting  green  stuff  in  slight  allowance,  gravel  and 
water,  if  they  are  compelled  to  work  hard  for  nearly 
all  they  get.  Meat,  vegetables,  and  the  various  prepared 
articles  of  food  take  too  much  time,  besides  costing  ordi- 
narily more  than  grain.  Feeding  milk  is  an  uncleanly 
practice,  daubing  and  soiling  beaks  and  feathers  more  or 
less.  A  little  green  stuff  is  useful,  not,  as  some  persons 


232 


AN   EGG   FARM. 


have  claimed,  on  account  of  its  nutritive  constituents 
being  better  than  those  of  grain,  but  because  the  acids 
of  green  stuff  and  fruit  help  all  omnivorous  or  graminiv- 
orous animals,  man  included,  to  digest  the  grain  food, 
which  is  the  main  reliance.  No  matter  how  nutritious 


the  diet  on  board   ship,   the   sailors  without  fruit  or 
vegetables  will  have  scur\7y  after  a  while. 

If  your  establishment  contains  fifteen  or  twenty  brood- 
ers, or  upwards,  stick  to  the  sunken  alley,  but  change 
from  the  alternate  to  the  parallel  system,  Figs.  140,  142 


THE   ALTERNATE   AND   PARALLEL   SYSTEMS.         233 


234  AX   EGG   FARM. 

and  144,  and  use  hot-water  pipes  of  the  usual  style,  Figs. 
136  and  139. 

What  has  been  said,  regarding  three  different  methods 
of  operation  with  chick  tilt  boxes,  applies  to  layer  tilt 
boxes  with  the  exception  that,  when  you  have  but  two, 
three  or  four  of  these  and  walk  to  each,  it  will  not  be 
convenient  to  take  hold  of  the  tilt  box  directly,  it  being 
too  heavy  and  swinging  in  too  big  an  arc  to  be  moved 
easily  and  followed  conveniently  oii  its  trip,  but  a  short 
wooden  lever  will  be  needed,  which  may  be  nailed  to 
each  box.  If  you  have  five  or  more  layer  tilt  boxes  on 
one  axle,  a  call  bell  and  a  feed  shelf,  the  latter  operated 
by  a  hammer  held  in  the  hand  will  be  cheaper  than  feed 
cylinders.  A  swinging  feed  shelf  can  be  very  readily 
suspended  when  it  is  indoors,  the  suspension  cords  or 
wires  being  attached  to  some  part  of  the  building. 

The  chaff  or  litter  for  layer  tilt  boxes  should  be  fine, 
and  for  chick  tilt  boxes  very  fine.  Coarse,  stemmy  hay 
cut  short  is  very  good.  It  must  be  somewhat  heavy, 
for  if  too  light  and  fluffy  it  does  not  tumble  well  in  tilt- 
ing. In  Nebraska,  Kansas,  California  and  intermediate 
alfalfa  regions,  use  the  finely  broken  stems  and  leaves 
remaining  after  the  alfalfa  seed  has  been  threshed  out. 
There  is  nothing  else  so  good  for  the  purpose. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

HEALTHY,    VIGOBOUS   BIRDS. 

The  introduction  of  mechanical  contrivances  in  tend- 
ing fowls  marks  a  new  era  in  poultry  raising  on  a  large 
scale.  Hereafter  the  poulterer,  working  under  the  old 
system,  can  no  more  compete  with  those  who  have  the 
new  machinery  than  he  can  raise  hay  for  cattle  and  use 
only  scythes  in  competition  with  stockmen  who  have 
mowing  machines.  The  ordinary  scratching  room,  or 
"scratch  pen,"  would  be  all  right  if  the  time  could  be 
afforded  to  mix  grain  with  the  litter  often  and  a  little  at 
a  time,  but  nobody  ever  did  or  ever  will  do  this  thor- 
oughly by  hand,  daily,  for  any  length  of  time.  If  done 
by  hand  it  will  be  at  a  loss,  and  the  more  you  do  it 
without  machinery  the  more  you  will  lose.  The  country 
is  full  of  abandoned  incubators  and  brooders  because 
the  eggs  used  for  hatching  lacked,  at  the  start,  the 
vitality  that  nothing  but  exercise  of  the  parent  stock 
could  bestow,  and  also  such  chicks  as  could  be  coaxed 
out  of  the  shell  died  by  inches  for  want  of  exercise  in 
the  brooders.  Writers  on  poultry  urge  the  sprinkling 
of  millet  on  litter  for  the  young  broods,  to  induce 
scratching  exercise ;  but  doing  this  two  or  three  times  a 
day  amounts  to  but  little.  It  will  slightly  retard  the 
mortality,  the  "leg  weakness,"  the  general  debility  and 
the  "plastering  up"  at  the  rear  of  the  body  of  the 
poor  unfortunates,  but  will  not  wholly  prevent  these 
troubles. 

Speaking  of  the  disgusting  and  disheartening  trouble 
last  mentioned,  complaint  of  which  appears  in  the  cor- 

235 


236 


AN    EGG   FARM. 


respondence  columns  of  the  poultry  papers  over  and 
over  again,  it  hardly  occurs  in  case  of  chicks  running  at 
large  in  one  instance  in  a. 
thousand,  we  might  say. 
It  is  wrongly  attributed  to 
looseness  of  the  bowels, 
while  its  real  cause  is  weak- 
ness of  the  muscles  around 
the  vent.  These  muscles 
are  weak  because  all  the 
other  muscles  of  the  body 
are  weak.  When  the  mus- 
cular system  is  toned  up  by 
the  exercise  on  a  free  range 
while  constantly  hunting, 
literally,  for  "grub,"  one 
set  of  muscles  concerned  in 
evacuation  throws  back,  or 
separates,  the  feathers 
around  the  vent  with  force, 
while  with  equal  force  an- 
other set  of  muscles  expels 
the  droppings.  Much  of 


the   so-called    diarrhoea   is 


FIG.  125.     FEED  TROUGH  APPARATUS. 

not  diarrhoea  at  all.     The  chicks  are  weak  for  lack  of 
exercise,  the  whole  system  is  enfeebled,  but  the  bowels 


HEALTHY,  VIGOROUS  BIRDS. 


237 


FIG.  126.     TRIP  GONG 
BELL. 


are  not  suffering  a  whit  more  than  all  the  other  organs. 
The  troublesome  symptom  of  clogging  near  the  vent  is 
almost  invariably  caused  by  lack  of  exercise,  but  any- 
thing else  that  debilitates  will  cause 
it,  and  it  is  not  necessarily  an  ac- 
companiment of  diarrhoea,  dysen- 
tery, or  any  other  specially  diseased 
state  of  the  bowels,  or  of  abnormal 
or  vitiated  droppings. 

These  last  may  be  in  fully  as  nor- 
mal a  condition  as  any  of  the  other 
waste  products  or  various  secretions 
of  the  animal  economy.  The 
feathers  begin  to  be  clogged,  in  the 
first  place,  by  the  thin  matter  that 
is  voided  last,  the  muscles  concerned 
becoming  tired  toward  the  close  of 
the  orgasm.  A  powerful  muscular  action  is  necessary, 
to  throw  aside  the  numerous  feathers  surrounding  the 
vent  and  to  discharge  the  thin  matter 
with  sufficient  force  to  prevent  any  drib- 
bling or  soiling  of  the  surrounding  parts. 
The  chick,  debilitated  in  every  muscular 
tissue  by  unnatural  confinement,  has  not 
the  strength  to  prevent  the  leakage  of  a 
drop  or  two,  which,  adhering  to  the 
feathers,  forms  the  nucleus  of  an  un- 
sightly deposit,  which  increases  witli 
every  evacuation.  The  vent  itself  is  not 
clogged.  The  deposit  is  outside  the  pas- 
sage, not  in  it.  The  poultry  keeper  is  apt 
to  try  a  change  of  feed,  thinking  that  the 
trouble  consists  in  bad  digestion,  or  he 
finds  fault  with  the  brooder  and  changes  from  bot- 
tom heat  to  top  heat,  or  vice  versa.  But  the  main 
cause  is  lack  of  exercise,  and  no  style  of  brooder  or 


FTG.  127.     WIRE 
FOR  GONGS. 


238 


EGG   PA  KM. 


change  of  feed  can  possibly  cure  or  prevent   the  symp- 
toms in  question. 

Let  us  be  understood.     This  is  the  first  time,  so  far 
as  the  writer  is  aware,  that  the  true  nature  of  most  of 


T 


-m 


FIG.  128.      INTKKIOK  A  I/1'KKXAT>:    SVSTK.M.      SKK   FIGS.  77  AND   130. 

the  so-called  diarrhea,  looseness  of  the  bowels  and  clog- 
ging of  the  vent  has  been  published.  It  is  not  claimed 
here  that  the  bowels  and  the  evacuations  are  in  a  per- 
fectly healthy  state  when  the  dribbling  matter  previously 


HEALTHY,  VIGOROUS   BIRDS. 


239 


described  begins  to  adhere  to  the  feathers.  When  there 
is  deterioration  of  health  and  strength  on  account  of 
dearth  of  exercise,  or  on  account  of  jostling  and  crowd- 
ing at  night  in  an  insufficiently  warmed  brooder,  result- 


ing in  loss  of  sleep,  every  organ  and  function  of  the 
body  is  likely  to  be  more  or  less  impaired.  What  is 
asserted  is  that  the  bowels  are  not  primarily  or  specially 
in  fault.  The  whole  digestive  system  may  be  as  well  off 
as  any  other  part  of  the  chick,  and  may  be,  in  fact,  the 


240 


EGG   FARM. 


<*LT"               ------ 
OCD 

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^ 

E 

as 

O 

— 

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d  n 

— 

J 

era 

— 

a 

— 

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^ 

g 

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EE 

S 

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HEALTHY,  VIGOROUS   BIRDS. 


241 


nearest  to  a  healthy  state  of  all  the  various  organs  ;  yet, 
since  there  is  a  great  deal  of  muscular  strength  necessary 
to  the  proper  per- 
formance of  the  act 
of  evacuation,  with- 
out such  strength 
there  will  be  soiling 
of  the  feathers,  which 
will  go  on  from  bad 
to  worse. 

Eeader,  if  you 
would  test  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  above, 
take  a  score, — or  fifty 
or  more  if  you  have 
them, — of  brooder  2 
chicks  that  have  been  L 
confined  in  a  manner 
to  prevent  exercise. 
Select  only  those  that 
have  the  unsightly 
protuberance  adher- 
ing to  the  feathers 
near  the  vent.  Re- 
move the  deposit,  and 
keep  removing  it  care- 
fully during  the  early 
stages  of  the  experi- 
ment we  are  about  to 
describe,  using  warm 
water  and  patience, 
and  taking  pains  not 
to  injure  either  the 
flesh  or  the  feathers. 
Separate  your  afflicted  specimens  into  two  broods,  im- 
partially, as  regards  size  and  health.  Give  each  brood 
16 


AN   EGG  FABM. 


the  same  heat,  sun,  fresh  air,  water,  and  everything  else 
down  to  the  smallest  detail.  Only  and  excepting  this, 
to  wit :  You  contrive  plenty  of  exercise  for  one  of  the 
squads,  and  for  the  other,  not.  Remove  the  filth  from 


the  posterior  parts  of  all  the  birds  in  both  squads  if  it 
reappears,  for  a  week  or  so  after  separation.  This  is  so 
as  to  be  able  to  detect  results  after  the  exercise  has  been 
allowed  time  to  take  effect.  The  division  into  two 


HEALTHY,  VIGOROUS  BIRDS. 


243 


FIG.  133.     LARGE   HAND  WHEEL. 


squads  should  be  made  before  the  specimens  in  either 
group  become  too  debilitated  to  take  exercise ;  because, 
you  see,  if  exercise  is  to  be  tested,  exercise  must  actually 
appear,  in  one  squad, 
as  a  factor  in  the  ex- 
periment. We  will 
tell  you  beforehand, 
good  reader,  how  it 
will  turn  out.  You 
will  not  only  find 
that  exercise  will  pre- 
vent  accumulations 
near  the  vent,  but  by 
careful  watching  you 
will  discover  that 
your  squad  which 
possesses  strengthen- 
ed muscles  performs 
the  act  of  evacuation  in  a  vigorous  manner,  throwing 
aside  with  force  the  feathers  of  the  parts  concerned  and 
holding  them  rigidly  till  the  last  portion  of  the  urine, 
as  well  as  the  more  solid  matter,  has  been 
vigorously  ejected,  while  you  will  also  perceive 
that  the  reverse  is  true  of  the  other  squad, 
which  exhibits  only  feeble  orgasms,  dribbling 
and  befouling. 

When  young  chicks  are  under  the  care  of 
the  mother  hen  and  are  allowed  freedom  they 
are  in  motion  nearly  all  the  time  in  daylight 
hours.  Plenty  of  exercise  keeps  up  the  proper 
balance  between  the  muscular,  the  nervous, 
the  circulatory  and  the  digestive  systems,  and 
tones  up  every  portion  and  function  of  the 
body.  In  such  a  case,  there  will  be  not  more  than  one 
or  two  per  cent  of  the  young  birds  showing  posterior 
parts  befouled,  and  such  birds  were  most  certainly  badly 


FIG.  134. 
SCREW  PUL- 
LEY. 


244  AN   EGG    FARM. 

hatched  and  so  handicapped  in  the  race  of  life,  or  they 
met  with  some  injury  or  setback.  Sometimes  a  whole 
season  will  not  develop  a  single  instance  of  the  unsightly 
pest  in  flocks  aggregating  hundreds.  Under  natural  con- 
ditions domestic  birds,  like  their  wild  cousins,  will  have 
perfectly  clean  plumage.  Folks  say  it  is  necessary  for 
young  chicks  to  "get  at  the  ground."  It  is  necessary  for 
them  to  "get  at"  exercise. 

In  the  instance  of  brooder  chicks,  throwing  grain  on 
top  of  a  pile  of  litter  does  not  amount  to  much.  No 
matter  how  loose  the  litter  may  be  when  it  is  first  put 
into  the  scratch  box,  the  constant  tramping  of  the 
chicks  soon  makes  it  a  compact  mass  and  the  grain  will 
not  rattle  down  through  it.  Throwing  them  grain 
induces  a  momentary  scramble  but  very  little  scratching. 
If  the  attendant  stirs  up  the  litter,  using  a  rake  or  fork, 
it  takes  him  over  twenty  minutes  for  sixty  flocks,  to 
do  this  properly  and  not  stampede  the  birds,  even  when 
every  door  and  other  appliance  at  the  brooders  and 
scratching  places  is  constructed  so  that  it  can  be  done  as 
handily  as  possible,  while  unless  the  brooders  and  their 
belongings  are  made  with  special  reference  to  this  rou- 
tine it  will  take  forty  minutes.  With  the  indoor  exer- 
ciser it  can  be  done  in  one  minute.  That  is,  the 
machine  saves  the  time  of  twenty  men,  at  the  very  least. 
The  best  farm  machinery  saves  the  time  of  only  eight  to 
twelve  men. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

BUSINESS   POULTRY   FARMING. 

Throughout  the  industrial  realm  everywhere  the  mod- 
ern maxim  is:  "Use  a  machine  instead  of  a  man, 
wherever  possible."  In  field,  factory  and  mine,  and  on 
shipboard,  progress  demands  the  best  of  facilities  for 
doing  those  things  which  are  to  be  repeated  over  and 
over  ten  thousand  times.  On  the  other  hand,  when  an 
operation  is  to  be  repeated  but  seldom,  you  must  beware 
lest  you  lavish  so  much  time  on  a  machine  to  do  it  with 
that  it  costs  more  than  the  profits. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  surplus  eggs  and  poultry  from 
farms  and  rural  places  will  be  put  on  the  market  irre- 
spective of  profit,  and  the  rapid  extension  of  the  trolley 
lines  changes  many  urban  residents  to  suburban ;  in 
other  words,  they  become  producers  of  poultry  products 
instead  of  consumers  merely.  Therefore,  the  prices  of 
eggs  and  dressed  poultry  are  low  and  will  continue  low. 
To  get  around  the  difficulty,  the  artificial  method  of 
hatching  and  rearing  has  been  resorted  to  by  would-be 
broiler  raisers  on  a  large  scale,  so  as  to  get  high  prices 
by  securing  chicks  in  cold  weather  when  the  ordinary 
farmer  cannot,  or  does  not,  do  it.  But  the  first  trouble 
is  that  winter  eggs  do  not  hatch  well  because  the  laying 
stock  is  in  bad  condition  at  that  season  from*  lack  of  exer- 
cise, and  the  second  trouble  is,  that  when  you  succeed 
in  hatching,  the  chicks  cannot  exercise  in  yards  in  cold 
weather,  sleet  and  snowdrifts.  You  cannot  secure  exer- 
cise for  them  indoors  without  the  aid  of  machinery, 
unless  you  spend  more  time  than  they  are  worth.  With- 

245 


240  AN"    EGG    FARM. 

out  exercise  so  many  will  die  that  there  will  be  no 
profits.  In  a  nutshell,  without  exercise  there  cannot  be 
thrift,  and  exercise  in  bad  weather  cannot  be  secured 
except  at  pecuniary  loss,  unless  there  are  labor-saving 
contrivances.  The  large  establishments  will  either  raise 
chickens  in  moderate  weather  under  an  out-of-door  sys- 
tem with  plenty  of  range,  and  preferably  in  about  the 
latitude  of  North  Carolina  and  Arkansas,  where  the 
winters  are  short  and  mild,  or  adopt  machinery,  or 
allow  large  and,  of  course,  expensive  apartments  for 
each  flock,  or  shut  up  shop.  The  writer  dislikes  the 


FIG.  132.   GROUND  PLAN  OF  HOUSE  FOB  LAYEKS.  (SEE  PAGE  132). 

role  of  dark  prophet,  and  calls  attention  to  the  sombre 
truth  only  in  order  to  show  a  way  out  of  the  difficulties. 
The  trouble  with  large  rooms  for  each  flock  is  the  great 
cost.  Already  cases  are  appearing  where  $50,000,  and 
even  $100,000,  is  spent  on  one  set  of  poultry  buildings. 
Scores  of  large  poultry  farms  have  been  abandoned 
because  their  owners  did  not,  at  the  outset,  correctly 
estimate  the  amount  of  labor  needed  to  run  them,  which 
is,  unless  machinery  is  used,  so  enormous  as  to  absorb 
the  profits,  or,  more  properly,  to  prevent  all  profits. 
There  are  ten  thousand  steps  necessary  on  poultry  farms 
as  ordinarily  conducted,  possessing  no  labor-saving  con- 


BUSINESS   POULTRY   FARMING. 


247 


248  AK   EGG   FARM. 

trivances,  and  the  day  is  never  long  enough,  from  ear- 
liest dawn  till  work  by  lantern  light  has  been  prolonged 
till  bedtime,  to  attend  to  the  hundreds  of  little  details. 
On  poultry  farming  as  a  business  there  is  no  one  bet- 
ter qualified  to  speak  than  that  luminous  and  volumi- 
nous writer  for  the  poultry  press,  intelligent  and  careful 
observer,  and  practical  poultry  keeper,  W.  H.  Rudd, 
who,  moreover,  lives  in  Massachusetts,  where  poultry 
farms  run  on  a  more  or  less  extensive  scale  are  most 
numerous,  and  besides,  his  market  and  provision  trade 
in  Boston  has,  for  thirty  years  past,  given  him  an  excel- 
lent opportunity  to  keep  track  of  the  progress  in  raising 
poultry  products  for  the  table  as  a  business.  He  says: 

"  Where  competent  help  is  a  necessity  we  are  very  dou-btf  nl  whether 
it  can  be  employed  at  a  profit;  at  any  rate,  We  have  never  known  of 
an,  instance  where  it  has  been  done." 

Since  his  utterance,  quoted  above,  there  have,  how- 
ever, been  some  very  noticeable  advances  in  poultry  cul- 
ture. "With  the  aid  of  the  new  labor-saving  machinery, 
skilled  labor  can  be  employed,  in  connection,  of  course, 
with  a  proper  number  of  cheap  hands,  at  a  profit  in 
poultry  raising.  There  is  much  light  work  and  routine 
work  that  can  be  done  by  low  priced  labor  when 
machines  are  the  central  and  governing  feature.  With- 
out such  machinery  poultry  will  not  be  raised  on  a  large 
scale  in  the  future,  any  more  than  grain  will  be  sown  by 
hand,  reaped  with  a  sickle  and  threshed  with  a  flail  at  a 
profit.  It  will  be  found  cheaper  to  use  comparatively 
small  buildings  with  machinery,  than  large  buildings 
without  it.  If  help  cannot  be  hired  in  a  business,  it  is 
no  business  at  all,  and  it  is  "not  business"  to  be  in  such 
a  business. 

What  would  be  thought  of  another  industry  where  no 
employes  could  be  hired  at  a  profit  ?  The  truth  is, 
that  in  cases  where  a  poultry  raising  establishment 
depending  on  yards  has  been  run  on  a  moderate  scale 


BUSINESS   POULTRY   FARMING. 


249 


250 


AX   EGG   FARM. 


successfully  without  machinery,  the  owner  working  at 
nothing  else  the  year  round,  either  thoroughbred  fowls 
and  eggs  have  been  sold  at  high  prices  and  the  business 
kept  afloat  in  that  way,  or  the  proprietor  has  struggled 
and  toiled  with  an  amount  of  care,  painstaking  and 
unremitting  industry,  which,  if  employed  in  almost  any 

other  staple  calling,  in  office, 
hotel,  mine,  factory  or  store, 
would  have  paid  him  better. 
In  this  last  instance,  talents 
and  zeal  have  been  virtually 
squandered,  since  they  could 
have  been  employed  to  better 
advantage  elsewhere.  As  re- 
gards the  breeding  and  sale  of 
fowls,  or  of  livestock  of  any 
species,  at  fancy  prices,  it  is 
an  important  branch  of  rural 
economy  and  brings  about  a 
vast  amount  of  good  in  dis- 
seminating valuable  breeds  of 
animals  all  over  the  country, 
and  finally  at  prices  within 
the  reach  of  the  multitude. 

But  it  is  not  a  staple  busi- 
ness. In  the  nature  of  things,  but  a  few  can  work  at  it, 
and  in  the  last  analysis  its  foundation  will  be  found  to 
rest  on  the  use  which  the  breed  serves  in  the  hands  of 
those  who  produce  for  sale  at  ordinary  market  rates.  To 
illustrate,  if  the  regular  dairy  business  is  not  profitable, 
then  the  raiser  of  extra  premium  Jerseys  or  Holsteins 
will  have  no  customers.  The  raisers  of  prize  winners 
must  be  few  in  number ;  for  if  like  produces  like,  then 
by  natural  increase  their  excellent  breed  will  soon  be 
common  ;  while  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the  superior  quali- 
ties of  their  high  priced  specimens  are  not  hereditary, 


FIG.   138.     SHAFT  WITH  WINCH. 


BUSINESS    POULTRY   FABMIXG. 


251 


252  AN"   EGG   FARM. 

then  the  purchaser  has  been  deluded,  and  the  seller  is 
laying  snares  instead  of  following  a  staple  business. 

To  return  to  the  matter  of  hiring  help,  machinery  is 
a  great  promoter  of  efficient  service  in  all  branches  of 
industry.  The  tender  of  the  machine  must  feed  it  con- 
tinually and  faithfully,  or  the  result  is  a  "dead  give 
away."  The  farm  hand  may  lean  on  his  hoe  pretty  often 
to  see  the  pigeons  fly,  or  the  carpenter  may  dawdle  over 
his  jackplane  occasionally  to  gossip,  and  not  be  noticed  ; 
but  if  the  former  is  running  a  gang  plow  and  the  latter 
a  planing  machine,  the  stoppage  of  either  attracts  atten- 
tion. The  machine  regulates  the  operative.  In  these 
latter  days,  the  question  whether  there  is,  or  should  be, 
antagonism  between  employer  and  employe  is  often  dis- 
cussed. The  fact  is,  the  old  saying,  "there  is  no  friend- 
ship in  trade,"  is  as  true  now  as  when  it  was  first 
uttered.  A  seller  tries  to  sell  dear,  and  a  buyer  to  buy 
cheap.  The  wage  worker's  commodity  is  his  labor. 
Unless  he  is  trying  for  promotion,  or  something  of  that 
sort,  he  is  apt  to  try  to  see,  not  only  how  much  money 
he  can  get  for  his  work,  but  how  little  work  he  can  do 
for  his  money. 

To  prevent  shirking,  piecework  has  been  found  a  very 
successful  device,  and  is  followed  almost  invariably 
in  great  establishments  where  the  nature  of  the  prod- 
uct permits  it,  careful  inspection  of  the  articles  pro- 
duced being  necessary  in  order  to  prevent  slighting 
of  the  work.  Working  on  shares,  practiced  in  connec- 
tion with  farming  to  a  great  and  increasing  extent,  is 
another  way  of  enlisting  the  worker's  self-interest. 
Where  neither  piecework  nor  work  on  shares  is  practica- 
ble, then  two  other  things  remain  which  will  assist  in 
securing  faithful  service  of  wage  workers  at  a  period 
when  the  false  and  pernicious  doctrine  is  rife  that  any- 
thing that  makes  work  is  a  benefit  to  the  laborer  and 
anything  that  uses  up  work  is  his  enemy.  The  two 


BUSINESS   POULTRY   FARMING. 


253 


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254 


AN   EGG   FARM. 


things  meant  are  teams  and  machinery.  Whenever  a 
hand  is  driving  a  team,  it  must  be  kept  going.  Hence 
the  great  advantage  in  hiring  help  in  prairie  farming, 
where  almost  everything  is  done  by  teams,  over  hiring 


in  garden  work  and  horticulture,  which  are  mostly  han- 
dicrafts. In  factories  where  the  hired  hand  does  noth- 
ing but  tend  a  machine,  he  will  be  sufficiently  regulated 
without  working  either  on  shares  or  by  the  piece. 

In  the  large  poultry  establishments  where  the  Exercis- 


BUSINESS   POULTRY    FARMING.  255 

ers  are  used,  the  feed  droppers,  whether  the  latter  are 
shelves  or  cylinders,  will  always  speak  for  themselves 
and  show  whether  they  have  been  charged  at  the  proper 
time  and  with  the  proper  quantity,  the  orders  being  to 
do  everything  by  rule,  of  course.  The  sound  of  the  call 
bells,  supposing  that  these  are  operated  by  employes  and 
not  by  clockwork,  will  show  what  is  going  on  at  all 
times  during  the  day,  so  that  efficiency  of  the  hired  help 
is  compelled.  This  is  an  advantage  not  to  be  despised, 
though  an  incidental  one  not  considered  when,  for  other 
purposes,  poultry  machinery  was  originally  planned. 

While  the  use  of  the  Exerciser  is  as  efficacious  in  giv- 
ing vitality  to  eggs  designed  for  hatching  as  in  rearing 
chicks  in  brooders,  its  effects  are  more  palpable  and 
more  quickly  discovered  in  the  latter  case.  Divide  fifty 
chicks  four  days  old  impartially  into  two  groups  of 
twenty-five  each.  Put  one  group  into  a  brooder  without 
the  Exerciser  and  the  other  group  into  a  brooder  exactly 
the  same  in  all  respects,  excepting  that  the  latter  has 
the  Exerciser  attached ;  treat  both  groups  scrupu- 
lously alike  as  regards  sun,  air,  feeding,  watering  and 
everything  else  down  to  the  smallest  details,  and  then 
compare  the  two  groups  every  week  till  two,  three, 
four  weeks  have  elapsed.  The  contrast  will  be  simply 
marvelous.  A  great  deal  of  exercise,  not  merely  a  little, 
is  just  what  artificially  reared  chickens  need.  It  goes 
right  to  the  spot.  Hitherto  the  brooder  chicks  of  the 
whole  United  States  have  not  been  allowed,  one  case  in 
fifty,  a  full  plenty  of  exercise,  in  winter  especially. 
There  is,  to  many  persons,  a  fascination  about  artificial 
hatching  and  rearing,  besides  the  expectations  of  pecu- 
niary gains ;  so  that  thousands  on  thousands  of  dollars 
are  invested  in  incubators,  with  an  enormous  amount  of 
chagrin  and  disappointment  as  the  almost  invariable 
result.  Lest  the  writer  should  appear  to  exaggerate  on 
this  point  let  an  impartial  and  competent  witness,  Mr. 


256 


AN   EGG    FARM. 


Lockwood  Myrick,  be  called  to  the  stand,  who,  in  the 
American  Agriculturist,  says : 

"There  are  few  enterprises  that  present  such  an  assurance  of  large 
and  quick  profits  as  that  of  raising  broiler  chickens  artificially,  that 
is,  with  incubators  and  brooders,  instead  of  hens.  With  incubators  a 
large  number  of  chicks  can  be  hatched  at  once  and  at  seasons  when 
hens  do  not  sit.  The  market  for  broilers  is  never  glutted.  They  are 
marketed  at  three  months  old,  the  dressed  weight  (undrawn)  ranging 
from  three  to  three  and  one-half  pounds  per  pair.  Eggs  cost  a  trifle 
less  than  two  cents  each  the  year  through.  The  feed  consumed  by  a 
chick  in  three  months  costs  but  ten  to  twenty  cents  per  pair. 


JO 


Y 


FIG.   142.     TILT  BOX— PARALLEL  SYSTEM. 


"  The  business  has  been  tried  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  but  proba- 
bly more  extensively  at  Hammonton,  South  New  Jersey.  Within  the 
last  ten  years  it  is  said  that  more  than  fifty  parties  have  undertaken 
the  brooder  business  in  this  township.  A  better  soil  and  climate  for 
poultry  cannot  be  found,  and  if  success  in  the  brooder  business  can  be 
expected  anywhere,  certainly  it  should  be  found  at  Hammonton. 
And  what  is  the  result?  Of  all  who  have  engaged  in  it  only  four 
remain,  commercially,  and  of  these  but  two  run  the  whole  year,  and 
one  of  these  expects  to  retire  shortly.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  there  is 
not  a  single  brooder  man  in  Hammonton  to-day  who  realizes  $500  per 
year  net  profit,  and  that  is  without  making  any  charge  for  his  time. 
One  party  mentioned  above  who  says  he  cleared  that  sum  two  years 
ago,  evidently  has  not  since.  Another,  after  four  years'  constant  effort, 
says  he  has  not  received  fifty  cents  a  day  for  his  labor.  A  third,  who 


BUSINESS   POULTRY   FARMING.  257 

runs  but  a  few  months  annually,  says  he  cannot  make  $1.50  per  day 
tor  the  time  he  is  in  it. 

"  Evidently  such  a  wide  difference  between  the  ideal  and  the  real 
calls  for  an  explanation  and  that  can  be  given  in  two  words,  dead 
chicks.  Incubators  hatch  from  50  to  60  per  cent  of  the  eggs.  The  trou- 
ble is  not  in  the  hatching,  unless  that  means  weakened  vitality,  but  in 
keeping  the  chicks  alive  afterward.  The  death  rate  is  awful,  ranging 
from  60  to  80  per  cent.  When  one-half  a  hatch  reach  to  the  broiler 
state,  rarely  done,  the  business  is  moderately  profitable.  If  60  per 
cent  die,  a  prudent  man  can  about  pay  his  feed  bills;  when  more  than 
this  die,  as  is  usual,  the  business  is  unprofitable.  This  mortality  is 
principally  within  three  weeks  from  hatching.  One  of  the  first  pain- 
ful duties  that  awaits  the  novice  is  the  burial  of  chicks;  they  are  often 
buried  by  the  bucketful  daily. 

"Practical  men  differ  in  placing  blame  for  the  mortality  upon  brood- 
ing or  feeding.  Many  kinds  of  brooders  have  been  tried,  using  top 
heat,  bottom  heat,  heating  with  hot-water  pipes  and  with  single 
lamps,  but  the  chicks  die  about  the  same  with  all.  Feeding  is  a  mat. 
ter  of  great  importance  that  has  been  most  carefully  studied,  but  no 
satisfactory  ration  has  been  found,  or  none  than  can  entirely  over- 
come the  ill  effects  of  imperfect  brooding,  and  no  brooder  has  been  used 
that  can  overcome  the  ill  effects  of  improper  feeding  if  the  trouble  is 
in  the  ration.  The  "infant  mortality"  is  the  great  cause  of  failure. 
Atter  investing  $1,000  or  more  and  losing  a  year's  time,  the  average 
man  sells  at  a  sacrifice  to  a  new  enthusiast,  who  in  turn  sells  again  or 
dismantles  the  houses  and  devotes  the  land  to  more  profitable  uses. 
In  the  light  of  Hammonton's  ten  years'  experience,  it  is  plain  that 
until  some  better  system  of  artificial  brooding  is  devised,  the  business 
is  a  very  hazardous  one;  it  cannot  compete  with  the  hen." 

The  above  is  very  unwelcome  to  a  host  of  people  who 
have  been  hoping  to  find  in  broiler  raising  a  sure  path  to 
fortune.  Chicks  of  all  gallinaceous  species  of  fowls  are 
so  constituted  in  their  essential  physical  nature  that  a 
tremendous  amount  of  exertion  is  absolutely  necessary, 
not  only  to  thrift  but  to  life  itself.  They  are  so  con- 
structed that  without  almost  continual  activity  of  their 
organs  of  locomotion  the  proper  balance  between  their 
muscular  system  and  their  digestive  and  respiratory  sys- 
tems is  lost.  Their  whole  constitution  becomes  impaired 
because  the  equilibrium  of  vital  forces  ordained  in 
nature  has  been  broken  up. 

The  Hammonton  chicks  died  for  the  same  reason  that 
brooder  chicks  by  the  thousands  have  died  all  over  the 
country.  The  heat  and  ventilation  in  the  brooder  and 
17 


258  AN   EGG   FARM. 

the  ration  might  both  be  right  at  Hammonton  and  yet 
the  "infant  mortality"  be  appalling.  The  riddle  is 
solved.  Canaries  and  young  chickens  are  among  the 
most  active  animals  in  the  world.  Nature  is  not  a 
clumsy  architect.  Their  hearts,  lungs  and  digestive 
organs  sustain  an  intimate  relation  to  their  muscles, 
and  the  harmony  of  parts  in  the  make-up  of  an  animal 
must  be  respected.  When  older  the  chicks  could  sur- 
vive enforced  idleness  and  inaction.  But  they  are  deli- 
cate little  balls  of  down 
at  an  early  age  unless 
gradually  made  robust 
by  working  for  what 
they  get.  If  you  fight 
nature  .you  will  be 
whipped  every  time. 
Raisers  of  brooder 

FIG.   143.      LIGHT  TILT  BOX. 

chicks  all  over  the  coun- 
try, who  achieve  a  partial  success,  repeatedly  testify  that 
allowing  the  younglings  the  liberty  of  an  outside  yard 
always  checks  the  mortality  perceptibly. 

But  it  will  soon  become  generally  known  that  a  tilt  box 
of  a  few  square  feet  of  floor  will  do  more  good  than  a  yard 
of  many  square  feet.  The  magical  results  of  the  little 
outdoor  yards  adopted  by  the  most  successful  raisers  of 
brooder  chicks  have  been  hastily  attributed  to  the  stimu- 
lating effects  of  the  cold  or  to  the  influence  of  the  fresh 
air  or  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun.  Wrong.  No  possible 
allowance,  proportion  or  variety  of  heat,  cold,  fresh 
air,  light  or  sun  will  save  them  without  exercise.  The 
curiosity  and  inquisitiveness  of  the  little  fellows  led 
them  to  continually  run  indoors  and  out,  like  children, 
as  children's  mothers  well  know,  and  in  this  way  a  little 
exercise  was  gained  by  the  use  of  the  outdoor  runs,  but 
not  enough  by  99  per  cent.  You  can  afford  pupils  plenty 
of  exercise  in  a  city  schoolyard  of  very  limited  dimen- 


BUSINESS    POULTRY   FARMING.  259 

sions,  by  means  of  gymnastic  apparatus ;  a  caged  squirrel 
allowed  a  wheel  will  thrive  ;  and  brooder  chicks  or  layers 
provided  with  a  gymnasium  will  take  even  more  exercise 
than  if  on  a  free  range. 

You  can  secure  plenty  of  hatchable  eggs  in  winter  by 
providing  the  Exerciser  for  your  laying  stock  and  in  this 
way  get  two  or  three  months  the  start  of  breeders  who 
are  dependent  on  the  advent  of  spring,  gentle  spring. 
You  need  not  mind  the  cold  much,  granted  that  your 
layers  are  through  molting,  if  you  keep  their  blood  stir- 
ring, and,  as  regards  the  kind  of  feed,  you  may  give 
them  almost  anything  that  comes  handy.  Attend  to 
their  muscles,  and  then  their  gizzards,  which  are  bun- 
dles of  powerful  muscles,  will  work  all  right.  There  is 
much  wasted  talk  about  a  "balanced  ration,"  and  much 
wasted  time  spent  in  weighing  the  constituents  of  hay, 
grain  and  other  feed  stuffs,  and  beef,  fat,  milk,  eggs, 
and  other  animal  products,  expecting  to  be  able  to  put 
certain  raw  materials  into  one  part  of  the  mill  and  take 
out  finished  goods  at  another  part,  as  the  manufacturer 
does.  But  the  processes  of  nature  are  so  subtle  that  you 
cannot  always  tell  by  what  you  put  in  exactly  what  you 
will  take  out.  There  is  no  way  so  good  as  actually  try- 
ing. The  test  of  sowing  and  reaping  will  instruct  a 
farmer  concerning  the  adaptation  of  his  land  to  a  crop 
better  than  elaborate  analyses  of  the  crop  and  the  soil 
could  ever  do ;  and  just  so  the  only  way  to  tell  what  a 
particular  ration  will  do  for  fowls  or  other  livestock  is 
to  try  it. 

The  state  agricultural  experiment  station  of  New 
York,  at  Geneva,  reported  in  Bulletin  132  an  interesting 
experiment  with  a  milch  cow  : 

"  A  cow  fed  during  ninety-five  days  on  a  ration  from  which  the  fats 
had  been  nearly  all  extracted,  continued  to  secrete  milk  similar  to 
that  produced  when  fed  on  the  same  kinds  of  hay  and  grain  in  their 
normal  condition. 

"  The  yield  of  milk  fat  during  the  ninety-five  days  was  62.9  Ibs.    The 


260  AN   EGG   FARM. 

food  fat  eaten  during  this  time  was  11.6  Ibs.,  5.7  Ibs-.  only  of  which  was 
digested,  consequently  at  least  57.2  Ibs.  of  the  milk  fat  must  have  had 
some  source  other  than  fat  in  the  food  consumed. 

"  The  milk  fat  could  not  have  come  from  previously  stored  body  fat. 
This  assertion  is  supported  by  three  considerations:  (a)  The  cow's 
body  could  have  contained  scarcely  more  than  60  Ibs.  of  fat  at  the 
beginning  of  the  experiment;  (b)  she  gained  47  Ibs.  in  body  weight 
during  this  period  of  time  with  no  increase  of  body  nitrogen,  and  was 
judged  to  be  a  much  fatter  cow  at  the  end;(c)  the  formation  of  this 
quantity  of  milk  fat  from  the  body  fat  would  have  caused  a  marked 
condition  of  emaciation,  which,  because  of  an  increase  in  the  body 
weight,  would  have  required  the  improbable  increase  in  the  body  of 
104  Ibs.  of  water  and  intestinal  contents." 

Commenting  on  the  above  the  editor  of  the  American 
Agriculturist  well  says  : 

"To  put  in  plain  United  States  language  that  the  average  dairyman 
can  understand,  we  state  thus  the  case  learnedly  set  forth  by  Dr.  Jor- 
dan :  This  cow  in  three  months  gave  in  her  milk  57  Ibs.  more  fat  than 
she  consumed.  Evidently  the  cow  converted  into  fat  part  of  the 
sugar,  starch,  fiber,  protein,  etc.,  that  she  consumed.  That  cows  can 
really  do  this  was  not  before  known.  This  may  explain  why  it  is  that 
rations  deficient  in  fat  or  oil  may  produce  milk  rich  in  fat.  The 
experiment  also  shows  what  wonderful  and  little  understood  pro- 
cesses go  on  in  the  animal  system.  Only  a  few  weeks  ago  they 
removed  a  woman's  stomach  and  she  is  now  well  and  thriving,  thus 
completely  upsetting  much  of  the 'physiology '  we  have  been  taught 
for  years.  Assuredly,  how  little  is  really  known  about  the  animal 
economy !  Facts  like  these  emphasize  the  marvel  of  life  force." 

Yet  there  are  very  many  persons  who  reason  that  the 
constituents  of  wheat  resemble  the  white  of  an  egg  and 
therefore  they  must  feed  that  grain  to  laying  hens  even 
if  it  costs  twice  as  much  as  corn — being  afraid  that  the 
latter  contains  too  much  oily  matter,  forgetting  that  the 
yolk  has  much  fat,  and  serves  as  the  first  food  of  a  chick, 
as  the  first  food  of  a  calf  is  rich  in  cream,  and  that  an 
omnivorous  animal  can  digest  and  assimilate  what  ifc 
requires  from  a  variety  of  foods,  among  which  corn 
stands  pre-eminent  for  cheapness  in  this  country. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

ARTIFICIAL  INCUBATIOK. 

The  practice  of  this  art  reaches  back  to  the  dawn  of 
history.  The  oldest  written  accounts  are  connected  with 
Egypt.  In  "The  Voiage  and  Travaile  of  Sir  John  Man- 
deville,  Kt,"  occurs  the  following,  written  in  1356  : 

"Also  at  Cayre  (Cairo),  that  I  spake  of  before,  sellen  men,  comounly 
men  and  women  of  other  lawe,  as  we  done  here  bestes  in  the  market. 
And  there  is  a  common  hows  in  that  cytee  that  is  all  fulle  of  smale 
furneys;  and  thidre  bryngen  wornmen  of  the  toun  here  eyren  (eggs)  of 
hennes,  of  gees,  and  of  dokes,  for  to  ben  put  in  to  the  furneyses.  And 
the!  that  kepen  that  hows  covern  hem  with  hate  of  hors  dong,  and 
outen  henne,  goos  or  doke  or  any  other  foul;  and  at  the  ende  of  three 
weeks  or  a  monethe,  thei  comen  agen  and  taken  here  chickens  and 
norissche  hem  and  bryngen  hem  forthe,  so  that  alle  thecountre  is  fulle 
of  hem.  And  so  men  don  there  bothe  wyntre  and  somer." 

The  fact  of  the  successful  prosecution  of  this  art  in 
Egypt  having  become  disseminated  throughout  Europe, 
there  were  incubators  of  various  patterns  constructed  in 
France,  England  and  other  countries,  from  the  middle 
of  the  fifteenth  to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
In  1777,  a  method  of  heating  egg  ovens  by  pipes  of  hot 
water  was  tried  in  France,  according  to  that  excellent 
work,  "Incubation  and  its  Natural  Laws,"  by  Charles 
A.  Cyphers,  the  best  which  has  appeared  since  the  modern 
incubators  came  in  use,  outside  of  the  standard  works 
on  embryology.  To  John  Champion,  Berwick-on- 
Tweed,  England,  1770,  probably  belongs  the  credit  of 
first  hatching  eggs  by  the  aid  of  fire.  He  used  a  room 
through  which  passed  two  heated  flues,  the  eggs  being 
placed  on  a  large  round  table  in  the  center.  He  claimed 
that  as  many  of  the  eggs  hatched  as  if  they  had 

261 


262 


AN    EGG    FARM. 


been  sat  upon  by  a  hen.  He  says  :  ' '  The  two  flue  places 
do  not  open  into  the  hatching  room  but  into  one  adjoin- 
ing, where  the  keeper  sits  and  the  coal  is  kept.  By  this 
means  the  eggs  are  free  from  smoke  and  dust,  by  which 
they  might  otherwise  be  greatly  injured.  The  two 
rooms  have  a  door  communication,  that  the  keeper  may 
every  now  and  then  visit  the  eggs,  and  see  if  they  are  in 
the  proper  degree  of  heat." 


Y 


FIG.   144.      TILT  BOX— PARALLEL  SYSTEM. 

This  experiment  we  shall  refer  to  later  as  the  type  of 
what  will  eventually  prove  the  most  successful  mode  of 
artificial  hatching  on  a  large  scale.  The  patent  incuba- 
tors such  as  are  now  on  sale,  or  modifications  thereof, 
from  the  size  of  a-  cook  stove  to  a  billiard  table,  with  reg- 
ulators attached,  will  always  be  of  use  for  amateurs, 
families  or  ordinary  raisers  on  a  small  scale,  but  the 
expense  of  the  machines  and  the  care  involved  in  run- 
ning them  are  so  great  where  thousands  of  chicks  are 


ARTIFICIAL    INCUBATION.  263 

wanted,  that  the  adoption  of  an  immense  egg  chamber 
holding  many  thousands  of  eggs  and  designed  to  be 
entered  by  the  attendants,  one  of  whom  is  always  on 
duty  night  and  day,  a  sitting  room  or  waiting  room 
being  conveniently  near,  and  personal  supervision  taking 
the  place  of  or  rather  supplementing  automatic  regulat- 
ors, will  ultimately  prevail,  because  proving  the  most 
feasible  and  economical. 

From  the  year  1800  on,  until  about  the  middle  of  the 
century,  there  was  a  lull  in  experimentation  till  the  late 
'60's  and  early  J70's,  when  in  consequence  of  the  rage  in 
this  country  for  the  introduced  Asiatic  and  Mediterra- 
nean breeds  of  fowls  and  the  general  interest  in  poultry 
incited  by  the  acquisition  of  these  valuable  races,  there 
were  some  half  a  dozen  hatching  machines  invented  and 
put  upon  the  market.  Very  crude  affairs,  though,  they 
were,  which  long  ago  went  down  the  stream  of  time, 
having  however  first  served  the  useful  purpose  of  offer- 
ing hints  for  later  inventors.  The  rage  for  incubators 
culminated  in  the  early  '90's.  The  multitude  of  incuba- 
tor patents  on  file,  the  size  of  the  manufactories  where 
the  principal  machines  are  turned  out,  the  extent  of  the 
advertising  thereof,  the  elegance  and  costliness  of  the 
catalogs  and  the  enormous  sales  effected,  as  well  as  the 
time  and  ingenuity  involved  in  experiments  connected 
with  the  improvement  of  the  numerous  styles  of  hatch- 
ers, to  say  nothing  of  the  time  and  care  bestowed  upon 
them  by  the  hopeful  purchasers,  can  be  realized  only  by 
those  who  have  made  a  broad  survey  of  the  matter.  The 
last  ten  years  have  been  especially  prolific  in  styles  of 
incubators. 

Curiously  enough,  the  skill  spent  in  contriving  the 
artificial  brooders  offered  for  sale  has  not  kept  pace  with 
that  given  to  incubators,  although  the  fact  that  it  is 
much  easier  to  hatch  chicks  than  to  rear  them  has  been 
evident  all  along.  The  notion  which  customers  have 


264  AN   EGG   FARM. 

often  had  that  homemade  brooders  would  answer  all 
purposes  operated  to  limit  demand  for  the  bought 
article  and  probably  somewhat  diverted  the  attention  of 
inventors  and  manufacturers  from  perfecting  brooders. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  the  art  of  artificial  hatching  lias 


FIG.   145.     WATCHING  CHICKS  AT  EXERCISE. 

developed  much  beyond  artificial  rearing,  and  the  weak- 
est point  to-day  in  the  artificial  system  appears  in  con- 
nection with  brooders,  as  will  be  seen  in  later  pages. 
Neither  in  hatching  nor  rearing  must  conditions  be 
exactly  thus  and  so  to  a  hair's  breadth.  Considerable 


ARTIFICIAL   INCUBATION.  265 

latitude  is  allowable,  both  in  the  natural  and  the  artifi- 
cial processes.  In  fact,  when  wild  birds  of  any  species 
incubate  and  rear,  there  are  fluctuations  of  weather  and 
atmospheric  conditions  that  would  cause  failure  if  it 
were  necessary  to  maintain  every  requisite  to  an  absolute 
nicety.  On  account  of  this  latitude  artificial  hatching 
is  not  extremely  difficult,  although  no  human  art  has 
ever  made  or  ever  will  make  as  perfectly  regulated  and 
operated  a  hatcher  as  is  the  live  natural  one. 

Experts  in  the  artificial  process,  especially  if  they  are 
incubator  manufacturers  or  dealers,  sometimes  insist 
that  the  artificial  method  beats  the  hen,  and  are  fond  of 
citing  the  cases  of  unfaithful  birds  deserting  or  break- 
ing their  eggs,  etc.  Granted  that,  although  the  habits 
of  all  wild  species  are  uniformly  exemplary  in  this 
regard,  long  domestication  has  impaired  the  incubating 
traits  of  some  domestic  breeds  and  utterly  destroyed 
those  of  others,  crossing  with  which  from  time  to  time 
has  introduced  uncertainties  of  results  more  or  less  into 
some  flocks ;  yet  the  point  is  this,  given  the  very  best 
incubator,  run  by  the  very  best  operator,  in  the  very 
best  cellar,  with  the  very  best  eggs ;  and  compared  with 
the  very  best  hen,  set  on  the  very  best  eggs,  in  the  very 
best  nest,  located  in  the  most  suitable  place,  and  the  hen 
is  decidedly  the  most  perfect.  No  man  can  ever  con- 
struct a  fabric  that  will  equal  a  feather,  or  a  mechanism 
which  will  control  heat,  moisture  and  ventilation  as 
wonderfully  as  the  mother  hen's  body  with  its  feathered 
covering. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

REQUISITES  OF  A   GOOD   INCUBATOR. 

To  understand  the  points  needed  in  an  incubator,  the 
changes  which  take  place  in  the  egg  from  the  first  to  the 
twenty-first  day  of  the  hatching  term  should  be  studied. 
It  is,  however,  not  necessary  to  know  all  the  details, 
which  are  of  such  wonderful  complexity  that  to  master 
them  would  need  a  lifetime.  A  farmer  may  fatten 
steers  or  raise  wheat  about  as  well  (not  quite)  by  atten- 
tion to  a  few  prominent  principles,  as  if  he  was  versed 
in  all  the  intricacies  of  animal  and  vegetable  physiology, 
and  a  few  general  considerations  of  heat,  moisture  and 
ventilation  will  enable  an  operator  to  run  an  incubator 
almost  as  successfully  (not  quite)  as  if  he  had  taken  so 
thorough  a  course  in  comparative  and  ornithological 
embryology  that  he  could  describe  all  the  successive 
marvelous  changes  in  the  egg  from  the  first  to  the  last 
stage  of  incubation.  The  close  study  of  these  stages  is 
to  be  recommended,  however,  because  of  the  intellectual 
gratification  in  tracing  out  such  matchless  processes  of 
nature,  while,  if  no  direct  practical  benefit  inures  to  the 
poultryman  from  such  study,  indirect  benefit  he  will  be 
sure  to  receive  on  account  of  the  increased  admiration 
he  will  have  for  the  wonderful  masterpiece  of  nature, 
the  egg,  and  the  wonderful  process  of  its  incubation. 

John  Randolph  said  on  the  floor  of  congress  that  he 
would  walk  a  mile  to  kick  a  sheep.  There  are  too  many 
poultry  raisers  who  would  walk  two  miles  to  kick  a  sit- 
ting hen,  not  appreciating  the  wondrous  nature  of  her 
labors  nor  admiring  her  beautiful  maternal  instincts  cel- 

266 


REQUISITES    OF    A    GOOD    INCUBATOR.  267 

ebnited  in  the  Book,  where  we  read  :  "As  a  hen  gather* 
eth  her  chickens  under  her  wings."  The  trouble  has 
been,  lo  these  many  years,  that  very  little  ingenuity  has 
been  spent  on  contrivances  for  managing  sitting  hens,  to 
minimize  the  trouble  they  cause  their  keepers,  while 
inventive  talent  has  compassed  sea  and  land,  earth  and 
air  in  perfecting,  so  far  as  possible,  substitutes  for  them. 
In  constructing  an  incubator  the  sitting  hen  is  always, 
and  properly,  appealed  to  as  a  standard,  and  from  her  we 
learn  that,  in  addition  to  the  purely  mechanical  requi- 
site of  a  changing  position  of  the  eggs,  the  three  chief 
essentials  of  perfect  hatching  are  heat,  moisture,  and  a 
supply  of  pure  air.  The  eggs  must  be  right,  however, 
in  the  first  place,  or  the  best  incubator  or  mother  hen  in 
the  world  cannot  turn  out  strong,  healthy  chicks.  In 
the  case  of  those  hens  which  lay  a  great  number  of  eggs, 
as  was  pointed  out  by  the  writer  in  the  American  Agri- 
culturist in  1870,  those  eggs  laid  near  the  close  of  the 
laying  term  contain  germs  deficient  in  vitality.  Mr. 
J.  L.  Campbell,  who  is  always  worth  listening  to,  says  : 

"  In  a  large  flock  of  hens  some  of  them  are  always  right  in  the  mid- 
dle of  a  litter,  and  their  eggs  being  in  with  the  others  will  account 
for  the  fact  that  some  good,  strong  chicks  can  be  hatched  right 
along  all  the  time,  and  it  is  very  well  that  this  is  so,  but  I  shall 
never  kick  again  when  my  hens  want  to  take  a  rest  when  I  want 
to  hatch  the  eggs.  In  fact,  I  shall  encourage  them  to  do  so  whenever 
the  eggs  begin  to  hatch  poorly.  Why.  it  looks  very  reasonable  that 
when  a  hen  has  laid  a  long  time  right  along,  day  after  day,  something 
must  be  getting  scarce,  because  the  supply  has  a  limit.  This  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  the  hen  finally  has  to  stop.  If  ever  I  can  get  a  flock  of 
hens  to  average  250  eggs  in  a  year  I  shall  be  happy,  but  I  have  a  good 
bit  to  go  yet  to  get  there." 

The  matter  of  well  vitalized  eggs  at  the  start,  when 
using  the  incubator,  and  the  importance  of  well-hatched 
chicks  at  the  outset  when  employing  the  brooder,  all 
operators  are  agreed  upon.  But  there  are  many  other 
things  concerning  which  there  are  interminable  dis- 
putes, notwithstanding  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  experi- 
ments. One  book  published  by  an  expert  who  has 


268  AN   EGG   FARM. 

devoted  twenty  years  to  artificial  incubation  says  :  "  Take 
the  eggs  out  from  the  egg  chamber  to  turn  them,  to 
afford  a  change  of  air;"  while  another  expert  who  has 
studied  the  matter  an  equal  length  of  time  insists  that 
turning  should  take  place  inside  the  machine  and  all 
exposure  to  cool  air  religiously  avoided.  One  master  of 
the  art  says  tfre  temperature  of  the  egg  chamber  should 
be  102°  and  another  prescribes  103°.  One  recommends 
providing  moisture  by  keeping  shallow  pans  of  water 
near  the  eggs  during  the  whole  term  previous  to  the 
18th  day,  while  a  third  never  supplies  any  moisture 
whatever,  and  a  fourth  would  supply  it  or  omit  it  accord- 
ing to  the  results  of  tests  made  between  the  twelfth  and 
nineteenth  days. 

In  regard  to  the  method  of  turning  eggs,  there  is  a 
school  of  operators  who  insist  that  eggs  must  be  gently 
rolled  and  that  inverting  the  trays  in  which  they  are 
kept  is  unnatural  and  injurious,  while  another  school 
advocates  turning  the  trays  as  the  quickest  and  easiest 
way,  claiming  that  so  long  as  the  eggs  are  turned  over  it 
makes  no  difference  how  the  revolution  is  accomplished. 
On  the  question  of  ventilation,  one  inventor  exults  in 
his  method  of  a  small,  constant  stream  of  air  admitted 
near  the  bottom  of  his  incubator  and  escaping  at  the 
top,  and  another,  while  providing  apertures  at  the  top, 
closes  them  with  valves  which  open  automatically,  gov- 
erned by  a  regulator,  to  allow  heated  air  to  escape  when 
the  temperature  rises  beyond  a  certain  degree  ;  and  still 
another  denounces  all  top  apertures,  claiming  that  in  car- 
rying off  hot  air  they  also  carry  off  moisture  and  dry  the 
eggs  too  much,  and  he  would  ventilate  only  very  slowly 
and  through  holes  in  the  egg  chamber  floor.  A  legion 
of  incubator  makers  claim  that  the  regulators  to  their 
respective  machines  govern  the  heat  perfectly,  leaving 
nothing  to  be  desired,  while  one  solitary  individual  in 
the  United  States,  who  makes  and  sells  an  incubator 


REQUISITES    OF    A    GOOD    INCUBATOR. 

and  who  has  written  the  best  book  on  incubation  extant, 
stands  up  boldly  and  says  there  is  but  one  style  of  regu- 
lator that  will  do  perfect  work  and  that  is  not  on  his 
own  machine  or  any  other,  because  it  is  too  expensive, 
since  it  costs  more  than  all  the  rest  of  a  machine. 

In  regard  to  changes  in  the  contents  of  the  egg  dur- 
ing incubation,  one  expert  says  none  of  the  yolk  is  used 
to  nourish  the  embryo  till  at  or  near  the  time  when  the 
former  is  drawn  bodily  into  the  latter  during  the  latest 
stages  of  hatching,  and  another  expert  claims  that  while 
the  %white  principally  forms  the  chick,  yet  portions  of 
the  yolk  enter  from  day  to  day  into  the  white  to  replen- 
ish its  diminishing  substance  and  are  afterwards  used 
for  the  growth  of  the  embryo. 

As  concerns  the  care  of  the  incubator  in  general, 
many  dealers  represent  that  it  is  so  easily  managed  that 
"a  child  can  run  it"  successfully;  while  others  insist 
that  no  hatching  machine  will  succeed  without  consider- 
able care  and  skill. 

"When  we  pass  from  the  topic  of  hatching  to  rearing, 
some  insist  that  not  over  20  or  30  chicks  should  be  put 
in  one  brooder ;  while  on  the  other  hand  dealers  are 
plenty  who,  to  induce  an  expenditure  of  $10  to  $20  or 
upwards  for  one  of  their  death  traps,  represent  that  it 
will  accommodate  50  to  75  or  100  chicks,  and  in  some 
cases  the  figures  are  200  or  more  to  a  brood.  One,  after 
wrestling  for  several  years  with  bringing  up  chickens  by 
hand,  insists  that  top  heat  only  in  brooding  is  the  thing. 
Another,  after  an  equally  extended  experience  and  bury- 
ing by  the  bushel  chicks  trampled  to  death,  shuns  top 
heat  with  the  greatest  persistence.  Still  another,  after 
an  experience  of  half  an  ordinary  lifetime,  uses  top  and 
bottom  heat  combined,  while  a  fourth,  grown  gray  in 
experiment  in  various  localities  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific,  says:  "Side  heat  is  as  the  hen,  give  me 
that  and  that  alone." 


270  AN   EGG   FARM. 

If  artificial  hatching  and  rearing  is  so  superior  to  the 
natural  mode,  as  is  persistently  claimed  by  many  advo- 
cates of  the  machines,  including  some  who  are  not  inter- 
ested in  their  manufacture  or  sale,  why  should  there  be 
such  contradictions  ?  The  fact  that  there  are  so  many 
mutually  destructive  criticisms  of  methods  proves  that 
all  is  not  plain  sailing.  The  real  truth  is  that  the  nat- 
ural machine  is  as  much  superior  to  the  mechanical 
incubator  and  the  brooder  as  the  construction  of  the 
human  body  transcends  that  of  a  watch  or  a  dynamo. 
All  that  should  be  claimed  in  imitating  the  hen  fry  a 
machine  is  that  we  may  approach  but  never  reach  the 
perfect  regulation  of  her  animal  heat  and  the  ventila- 
tion afforded  by  those  wonderful  appendages,  her  feath- 
ers, with  their  matchless  quality  as  non-conductors  of 
heat,  their  almost  impalpable  weight  and  their  innumer- 
able valves  or  shutters.  Besides  furnishing  an  egg 
chamber  with  top  and  sides  composed,  as  we  may  say, 
entirely  of  delicate  shutters,  nature  has  an  engineer  on 
duty  day  and  night  to  attend  these  shutters  in  an  emer- 
gency, and  give  them  a  greater  motion  than  common. 
The  art  of  man  could  never  succeed  to  all  eternity  in 
making  one  like  all  the  millions  of  shutters,  as  we  have 
called  them,  or  ventilation  doors,  each  held  by  springs 
vastly  more  delicate  than  the  hair  spring  of  a  watch  and 
a  millionth  of  a  grain  in  weight. 

Do  not  use  a  cheap  incubator.  A  good  one  cannot 
possibly  be  constructed  cheaply.  Von  Culin  says  : 

"  The  great  demand  for  incubators  and  brooders  has  tempted  sash 
manufacturers,  makers  of  show  cases  and  others,  to  get  out  various 
boxes,  cases,  tanks  and  barrels,  with  various  attachments,  and  call 
them  incubators  or  hatchers.  Some  buy  a  lot  of  almost  expired 
patents,  and  boom  the  new  machine  on  the  reputation  of  the  old  one, 
to  which  the  patents  originally  applied,  while  the  new  machine  pos- 
sesses none  of  the  good  points  of  the  old  one,  which  to  build  would 
cost  considerably  more  than  the  new  one  is  sold  for.  Many  of  this 
class  never  had  any  merit,  and  went  out  of  the  market,  but  new  ones 
bob  up  along  the  line,  have  their  clay  of  deceit  and  disappear.  Watch 
for  them." 


EEQUISITES   OF   A    GOOD   INCUBATOR.  271 

If  there  is  any  instance  where  saving  at  the  spigot  and 
wasting  at  the  bunghole  will  apply  it  is  in  bestowing 
valuable  time,  eggs  and  oil  (and  losing  the  season)  on 
an  incubator  that  gives  you  only  worthless  chicks  or 
none  at  all,  the  latter  much  preferable. 

There  are  two  principal  modes  of  heating.  One  is  to 
warm  air  by  a  lamp,  and  the  other  is  to  warm  a  tank  of 
water  over  the  top  of  the  air  chamber,  by  a  lamp,  and 
warm  the  air  by  this  tank.  There  is  no  moisture 
imparted  to  the  air,  of  course,  by  the  latter  mode  any 
more  than  by  the  former,  since  the  tank  must  be  per- 
fectly water-tight,  but  the  advocates  of  this  method 
urge  that  the  body  of  water  is  a  protection  against  fluc- 
tuations of  temperature.  On  the  other  hand  the  hot- 
air  school  say  that  by  their  system  you  can  cool  or  warm 
quickly  when  you  want  to,  which,  they  claim  is  an 
advantage.  It  is  certain  that  there  are  good  incubators 
of  both  sorts,  though  fierce  battles  of  words  have  been 
waged  between  the  respective  rival  manufacturers  of 
each.  One  objection  to  a  tank  is  that  if  of  cheap  mate- 
rials it  rusts  out  in  a  few  years  and  sooner  or  later 
encourages  profanity  by  exasperating  leaks,  while  if  well 
made  of  durable  materials  the  cost  is  an  obstacle. 

The  time  has  passed  away  when  any  one  or  two  or 
four  or  six  makers  can  claim  to  offer  the  only  good 
machines,  any  more  than  the  production  of  excellent 
pianos,  plows,  cornshellers  or  mowers  is  confined  to  a 
small  number  of  manufacturers.  Mr.  Campbell  says  in 
the  Poultry  Keeper  : 

"  My  experiments  have  never  been  confined  to  the  use  of  my  own 
incubators.  I  have  tried  all  the  machines  which  were  popular  in  their 
day  bxat  are  never  heard  of  now,  and  I  have  tried  all  the  most  popular 
ones  of  the  present,  and  to  sum  up  the  whole  matter  all  that  I  have 
learned  by  so  doing  is  to  find  out  that  there  is  more  in  the  operator 
than  in  the  incubator,  and  very  much  more  in  the  eggs  than  either." 

It  may  be  asked  how  the  would-be  purchaser  is  to 
decide  if  the  interested  whoopings-up  of  the  dealer  are 


272  Atf   EGG   FARM. 

to  be  disregarded.  The  reply  is,  visit  some  party,  not 
an  agent,  who  has  run  a  machine  successfully,  and  if 
more  than  one  season  so  much  the  better.  Be  sure  to 
find  out  the  exact  per  cent  hatched,  and  whether  the 
younglings  stand  up  and  face  the  music  or  are  simply 
"born  to  die."  Learn  the  principles  on  which  it  oper- 
ates as  regards  the  three  essentials,  heat,  air,  moisture. 
If  possible  interview  more  than  one  operator  using  the 
same  machine.  If  you  cannot  do  this,  examine  the  cat- 
alogues and  cuts  of  the  leading  manufacturers  and 
notice  which  gives  a  clear  description  of  the  modus  oper- 
and! of  their  incubators.  Pay  no  attention  to  their 
boasts  but  steer  by  what  commends  itself  to  your  judg- 
ment in  the  machines  themselves.  On  the  matter  of 
agents'  representations  the  following  is  from  that  careful 
experimenter  and  able  writer,  Mr.  W,  II.  Rucld  : 

"If  beginners  have  a  preference  for  any  particular  incubator  we 
advise  them  if  possible  to  see  one  of  them  in  operation,  or  to  corre- 
spond with  some  one  who  uses  it,  but  if  the  person  thus  addressed  is 
an  agent  for  it  or  has  a  commission  in  view,  we  should  in  our  own  case, 
as  the  world  now  wiggles,  take  mighty  little  stock  in  his  recommenda- 
tion, or  in  any  of  his  statements  concerning  it." 

A  few  words  may  not  be  amiss  in  this  connection 
regarding  a  test  of  the  merits  of  an  incubator  by  a  pub- 
lic exhibition  of  hatching.  The  dealer  or  his  represen- 
tative appears  in  the  neighborhood  about  twenty  days 
before  the  show  opens  and  starts  one  or  two  machines,  at 
nearby  convenient  headquarters,  loaded  with  the  very 
best  eggs  procurable,  tests  them  repeatedly  up  to  the 
time  the  gaping  crowd  gather  to  see  chicks  come  out, 
culls  and  selects  from  his  machines  on  the  side  and  car- 
ries the  pipped  eggs  (each  one  of  which  has  the  kick  of  a 
mule  in  it,  all  the  fair  to  medium  ones  though  hatcha- 
ble  being  rejected)  to  the  show  room,  where  a  highly 
ornamented  and  gilded  incubator  stands,  fired  up  ready 
to  receive  them,  and  make  a  hatch  of  101  per  cent,  one 
egg  being  double  yolked.  The  machine  run  by  the  sly- 


REQUISITES    OF    A    GOOD    INCUBATOR.  273 

est  exhibitor  of  course  stands  highest  in  the  estimation 
of  the  uninitiated.  The  catalogues  of  the  manufactur- 
ers, each  claiming  their  wares  as  the  best,  are  suggestive 
of  the  emigrant  who  wrote  to  a  friend  on  the  auld  sod  : 
"America  is  a  glorious  country.  There  every  man  is  as 

good  as  every  other  man  and  a sight  better."    A 

common  error  for  an  amateur  or  small  scale  operator  is 
getting  an  incubator  of  too  large  a  size.  On  this  point 
that  most  trustworthy  expert,  Mr.  C.  Von  Culin  says  : 

"Many  beginners  are  undecided  as  to  what  sized  incubator  to  get. 
If  we  wanted  a  capacity  of  300  eggs,  we  would  get  three  incubators  of  100 
eggs  capacity  each  ;  if  600  capacity,  three  of  200  eggs  each ;  if  750,  three 
of  250  each ;  if  1200  capacity,  three  of  400  each  ;  if  1800  capacity,  three  of 
600  eggs  each.  This  is  much  better  than  getting  one  large  incubator 
for  all  the  eggs.  It  costs  more  for  the  several  smaller  machines  than 
for  one  large  one  for  all  the  eggs,  but  the  advantages  are:  You  can 
have  fresher  eggs  for  each  incubator,  you  can  sort  the  eggs  if  you  have 
large  quantities,  and  select  those  with  shells  of  same  kind  and  thick- 
ness for  each  incubator;  you  can  place  duck,  turkey  or  goose  eggs  in 
separate  machines,  or  use  a  different  machine  for  each  variety  of 
hens'  eggs.  You  can  keep  a  record  of  each  kind  and  quality ;  you  will 
learn  more  about  the  amount  of  moisture  for  each  class  of  eggs,  and 
will  soon  become  able  to  hatch  all  kinds  of  eggs  equally  well.  If  you 
make  a  mistake  you  will  discover  it  more  easily  and  can  rectify  it 
more  readily;  the  result  of  a  mistake  or  an  accident  will  not  be  as 
expensive,  and  you  will  have  a  better  chance  to  retrieve  any  loss 
which  you  may  sustain  through  accident,  carelessness  or  neglect  of 
rules  in  hatching,  for  it  would  hardly  be  likely  to  affect  but  one 
machine,  and  as  that  one  would  contain  only  one-third  of  your  full 
quota  of  eggs,  you  would  have  the  other  two-thirds  left,  even  if  all  in 
one  machine  were  ruined,  and  you  would  not  be  apt  to  repeat  the 
performance  (or  non-performance)  with  either  of  the  other  two 
incubators." 

With  the  above  we  agree  as  regards  bought  incuba- 
tors, but,  as  we  shall  explain  farther  on,  the  incubator 
of  the  future  for  the  large  scale  man  will  not  be  shipped 
to  the  customer  at  all  ;  but  will  be  so  large  that  it  will 
have  to  be  constructed  on  his  premises,  and  the  same 
remark  applies  to  the  brooder  of  the  future  for  the  large 
poultry  plant 

Finally,  having  purchased  your  incubator,  study  the 
printed  directions  of  the  manufacturer  very  carefully. 
Do  not  be  in  a  hurry.  Take  time  to  learn.  Says  Mr.  J. 
18 


274  AN   EGG   FARM. 

A.  Hunt,  whose  success  in  artificial  hatching  we  have 
never  known  excelled  : 

"  When  you  receive  your  machine  and  get  it  set  up  and  in  running 
order,  take  a  whole  day  if  necessary  to  study  it  in  its  various  parts. 
The  regulating  apparatus  should  receive  particular  attention  ;  do  not 
be  satisfied  in  knowing  that  it  does  the  work,  but  find  out  how  it 
works,  familiarize  yourself  with  every  part,  as  it  may  be  very  useful 
knowledge  to  you  in  future  operations,  for  should  your  regulator 
through  any  accident  or  without  accident  fail  to  work,  you  will  be  bet- 
ter able  to  discover  the  difficulty  and  remedy  it  without  delay.'.' 

As  regards  the  style  of  lamp,  use  none  that  is  not  as 
secure  against  accident  as  the  best  that  can  be  bought  for 
money,  because  buildings,  incubators,  eggs,  chicks  and 
all  have  in  a  number  of  instances  burned,  through  defec- 
tive lamps.  See  if  insurance  experts,  who  make  a  study 
of  such  things,  approve  the  style  of  lamp.  Use  the  best 
oil,  160°  test,  for  to  tolerate  anything  poorer  in  an  affair 
of  this  kind  is  bad  economy,  and  keep  the  lamps  nicely 
trimmed. 

The  regulators  furnished  incubators  are  of  various 
patterns  and  materials.  A  bar  thermostat  composed  of 
metal  and  hard  rubber  makes  on  the  whole  the  best  reg- 
ulator, but  it  never  can  be  as  reliable  as  the  heat  of  the 
hen.  Cyphers  says  : 

"  In  running  an  incubator,  the  leading  feature,  and  the  hardest  to 
secure,  is  an  even  temperature.  This  would  not  be  the  case  had  we  a 
good  regulator,  but  we  have  not.  Not  only  have  many  hundreds  of  dol- 
lars been  spent  in  experimenting,  trying  to  get  a  good  heat  regulator 
for  an  incubator,  but  many  thousands  of  dollars  have  gone  in  like 
manner  to  secure  a  heat  regulator  for  other  purposes  that  would  be 
controlled  by  dry  heat,  and  which  would  keep  the  temperature  con- 
stant to  a  degree  under  all  reasonable  conditions.  It  is  absolutely 
impossible  to  mal*e  such  a  regulator  that  will  be  delicate  enough  to 
hold  the  heat  to  a  degree,  powerful  enough  to  do  the  necessary  work, 
and  simple  and  inexpensive  at  the  same  time.  This  has  been  and  stih 
is  the  aim  of  experimenters,  but  it  must  only  meet  with  failure  in  the 
future,  as  it  has  in  the  past.  Whatever  means  is  employed  to  regulate 
the  temperature  of  the  hatching  chamber,  it  is  absolutely  essential 
that  it  should  be  kept  within  narrow  limits.  The  heat  and  atmos- 
pheric conditions  must  balance  one  another,  and,  if  they  do  not,  incu- 
bation cannot  be  carried  to  a  successful  exclusion.  My  meaning  is 
simply  this:  Evaporation  from  the  egg  must  be  held  at  such  a  point 


REQUISITES   OF   A   GOOD   INCUBATOR.  275 


that  the  fluids  in  the  embryonic  structures  are  ample  to  keep  the  mem- 
branes moist  up  to  the  time  of  exclusion,  and  the  rate  of  evaporation 
is  not  the  same  under  any  two  degrees  of  temperature." 


THE  MOTHER  HEN  THE  PATTERN. 

What  are  the  natural  processes  ?  The  hen's  nest  is 
concave  to  keep  the  eggs  close  together,  and  shallow 
enough  to  prevent  them  from  lying  two  deep,  thus 
bringing  the  upper  part  of  each  egg  containing  the  germ 
in  close  contact  with  her  body  or  the  feathers  next  her 
skin.  Other  feathers,  especially  those  of  her  wings,  are 
distended  so  as  to  form  a  wall,  enclosing  the  egg  on  all 
sides  and  retaining  the  heat,  the  construction  of  the 
feathers  being  such  that  while  all  strong  currents  of  air 
are  prevented,  yet  the  slightest  movement  of  the  hen 
causes  the  elastic  down  to  operate  like  fans  and  drive 
out  air  from  the  nest,  to  be  replaced  by  fresh  air  from 
outside.  Indeed,  there  is  a  slight,  exceedingly  gentle 
circulation  of  air  going  on,  strained  through  the  laby- 
rinth of  the  overlapping  feathers,  even  when  the 
hen  is  asleep.  Also,  through  the  natural  law  of  diffu- 
sion, the  poisonous  gas  thrown  off  from  the  embryo 
through  the  porous  egg  shell  is  forced  out  of  the  nest 
through  the  feathers  independent  of  any  circulation  of 
air.  It  does  not  stay  to  become  accumulated  under  the 
hen  to  the  injury  of  the  incipient  chick  ;  for  the  law 
above  hinted  at  compels  it  to  diffuse  itself  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  it  will  overcome  gravity  and  rise,  though 
heavier  than  the  air  with  which  it  mingles,  and  will  force 
itself  through  feathers  as  it  cannot  do  through  the 
walls  of  an  incubator. 

As  the  eggs  at  the  middle  of  the  nest  become  very 
warm  to  the  touch  of  the  hen  she  pushes  them  away  by 
hooking  her  beak  and  the  upper  portion  of  her  neck 
over  those  at  the  outside  and  pulling  them  along  to  take 
the  place  of  the  former.  The  operators  in  the  Egyptian 


276  AN   EGG   FAKM. 

hatching  ovens  use  no  thermometers  but  learn  to  distin- 
guish different  temperatures  by  the  sense  of  feeling,  and 
attendants  on  incubators  and  brooders  sometimes  learn 
to  attain  very  great  precision  in  judging  tempera- 
ture without  a  thermometer.  The  hen  can  do  it  with- 
out a  thermometer  and  without  learning  how.  We  wink 
without  learning  how,  because  our  ancestors  did,  and  the 
hen  knows  when  eggs  are  warm  enough  to  take  their 
turns  in  the  outer  ring,  because  her  ancestors  were  liv- 
ing thermometers.  The  movements  of  the  hen  to  roll 
her  eggs  give  an  increase  of  ventilation,  and  in  very 
warm,  damp  weather  when  she  is  not  rolling  eggs  she 
will  occasionally  bristle  her  feathers  and  open  her  wings 
a  little  to  give  her  nest  a  slight  airing,  and  if  very  hot 
and  very  damp  will  even  stand  upright  a  few  seconds 
by  spells.  Then,  if  it  grows  still  hotter,  she  will  leave 
the  nest  entirely,  sometimes  remaining  off  for  hours  at 
a  time.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  windy,  she  will  stick 
closer  than  a  brother,  even  when  in  need  of  food  and 
water.  In  very  cold  weather  she  is  especially  faithful  to 
her  charge  ;  for  she  not  only  refrains  from  standing  up 
when  rolling  her  eggs,  but  she  does  this  while  keeping 
her  body  unusually  quiet  and  holding  her  feathers  close. 
If  the  weather  continues  very  cold  she  will  remain  on 
her  nest  three  days  or  more  without  food.  The  ten- 
dency is  for  the  eggs  to  assume  positions  in  the  nest 
with  the  small  ends  toward  the  center,  although  with  all 
gallinaceous  species  of  birds  which  sit  on  a  dozen  or  fif- 
teen or  more  eggs  this  order  is  not  observed  perfectly,  as 
it  is  in  the  case  of  such  other  species  as  lay  only  from 
three  to  six.  All  eggs  hatch  best  when  the  large  end  is 
the  highest. 

Nature  being  our  instructor,  we  cannot  excel  her  and 
may  consider  ourselves  fortunate  if  we  come  somewhere 
near  her.  The  most  that  can  be  claimed  for  artificial 
hatching  and  rearing  is,  that  while  it  can  never  operate 


REQUISITES   OF   A    GOOD   INCUBATOR.  277 

so  perfectly  as  the  hen,  its  exemplar,  yet  it  can  when 
properly  directed  approach  so  near  her  work  as  to  keep 
within  the  bounds  of  the  fluctuations  a  well-vitalized  egg 
or  a  well-hatched  chick  can  undergo  without  serious 
injury.  The  fact  that  departures  from  the  perfection  of 
nature  so  wide  as  to  be  barely  compatible  with  success,  if 
not  wholly  fatal  to  it,  are  liable  to  occur,  renders  it 
advisable  that  the  natural  method  should  be  adopted  in 
general,  and  the  artificial  resorted  to  only  under  special 
circumstances,  as,  for  example,  at  such  times  and  places 
as  do  not  afford  sitting  hens.  The  writer  would  not 
publish,  regarding  a  good  incubator,  a  parallel  to  the 
famous  " volume"  on  the  snakes  in  Ireland  containing 
only  six  words  :  "There  are  no  snakes  in  Ireland,"  or 
repeat  to  a  party  about  to  buy  an  incubator  the  advice 
of  the  redoubtable  Mr.  Punch  to  folks  contemplating 
matrimony:  "Don't ;"  for  both  incubators  and  brood- 
ers have  their  uses  and  on  occasions  are  indispensable. 

TEMPERATURE. 

The  correct  degree  of  heat  for  the  egg  chamber  of  the 
incubator  is  found  by  taking  the  outside  temperature  of 
the  sitting  hen  at  the  point  of  her  contact  with  her  eggs, 
near  which,  during  what  has  betn  termed  the  sitting  fever, 
a  network  of  blood  vessels  becomes  specially  distended, 
capable  of  furnishing  plentiful  heat  to  be  received  by 
the  eggs  and  nest.  The  internal  temperature  of  the  hen 
some  distance  from  her  skin  is  given  by  Charles  A. 
Cyphers,  whose  close  study  and  clear  description  of  the 
process  of  incubation  merit  unstinted  praise,  as  109°  to 
110°  at  the  beginning  of  her  sitting  term,  decreasing 
slightly  towards  its  close,  to  offset  partially  the  develop- 
ment of  heat  within  the  eggs  themselves  consequent  on 
the  growth,  blood  circulation  and  breathing  of  the 
chicks. 


278  AN    EGG   FARM. 

The  warmth  imparted  to  the  eggs  it  is  difficult  to 
ascertain  with  absolute  precision,  as  eggs  in  different 
parts  of  the  nest  vary,  and  different  parts  of  the  same 
egg  vary  also.  Cyphers  found  it  102°,  others  place  it 
at  from  103°  to  105°.  The  writer  could  never  find  a 
temperature  higher  than  102  1-2°.  At  the  start,  it 
takes  about  forty-eight  hours  to  heat  the  nest  and  eggs 
through  and  through  sufficiently  to  raise  the  latter  to 
their  full  temperature  of  say  102°  or  102  1-2°  or  103°. 
The  air  just  above  the  eggs  in  an  incubator  must  register 
about  103°  in  order  that  the  eggs  may  reach  102°.  The 
bulb  of  the  thermometer  should  touch  a  fertile  egg,  as  an 
infertile  one  is  not  a  reliable  indicator,  and  the  glass 
should  be  set  in  wood,  not  in  metal.  The  germ  being 
always  at  the  top  of  the  egg,  in  close  proximity  to  the 
hen's  body,  undoubtedly  reaches  103°,  even  when  the 
average  temperature  of  the  egg  is  a  degree  or  half  a 
degree  less.  Either  102°  or  103°  may  be  aimed  at  in  the 
regulation  of  the  incubator  and  if  secured  with  a  fair 
degree  of  precision  all  will  go  well  so  far  as  the  requisite 
of  heat  is  concerned.  Before  putting  in  the  eggs,  your 
incubator  should  be  regulated  and  heated  to  the  correct 
degree  several  days  in  order  to  be  thoroughly  warmed 
through.  Then  after  putting  in  the  eggs  let  the  regu- 
lator severely  alone  during  the  first  week.  The  eggs 
will  cool  off  the  machine  at  first,  and  then  it  and  they 
will  gradually  warm  up,  and  thus  the  natural  process 
will  be  imitated  In  which,  as  we  have  seen,  the  eggs  are 
not  brought  to  the  full  standard  heat  suddenly.  It  has 
been  recommended  by  some  poultry  men  to  run  the  tem- 
perature at  98°  the  first  day  and  increase  gradually  for 
four  days.  But  two  considerations  appear  here  :  One 
being  that  although  the  eggs,  shells  excepted,  are  such  a 
very  poor  conductor  of  heat  that  it  takes  two  or  three 
days  for  the  hen  to  warm  them  and  the  nest  through 
and  through  ;  yet  the  important  part  of  the  germ,  being 


>gp8fc      BR4^ 

^  OF  THF  r 

UNIVERSITY 


REQUISITES   OF  A   GOOD   I>g£g^ASQ^x^  279 

uppermost  and  almost  in  contact  with  the  hen,  being 
separated  from  her  only  by  the  shell,  which  is  a  remark- 
ably good  heat  conductor,  gets  to  about  100°  the  first 
day  ;  and  the  other  consideration  being  that  some  hun- 
dreds of  cold  eggs  suddenly  put  into  a  well  warmed  up 
air  chamber,  regulated  to  the  correct  temperature  of  102° 
on  a  level  with  the  eggs  and  103°  at  the  bulb  of  the 
thermometer,  will  lower  the  temperature  of  the  air  for 
awhile,  so  that,  as  our  experiments,  corroborated  by  those 
of  others,  have  shown,  no  particular  care  need  be  taken 
to  run  lower  at  the  start  than  later. 

The  eggs,  or  rather  the  embryo  chicks,  develop  so  much 
heat,  beginning  at  about  tire  eleventh  day  and  then  pro- 
gressively till  hatching  is  finished,  that  no  more  than  one- 
half  as  much  oil  is  consumed  by  the  incubator  lamp  dur- 
ing  the  last  half  of  the  term  as  during  the  first.  Hence 
the  necessity  of  watching  your  thermometer  and  turning 
down  the  flame  as  an  offset  to  the  animal  heat.  When 
this  heat  is  great  the  prospect  is  good  for  a  good  hatch, 
both  as  regards  numbers  and  vigor. 

When  the  chicks  begin  to  pip,  104°  is  a  good  temper- 
ature, and  when  they  begin  to  leave  the  shells  it  may  be 
105°  without  harm,  but  rather  positive  good,  for  the 
chicks  being  at  first  quite  wet,  evaporation  makes  them 
colder  than  the  air  of  the  egg  chamber.  Avoid  at  this 
stage  the  common  error  of  opening  the  egg  chamber  door 
unless  necessary.  The  effect  of  a  blast  of  cool  air  on  the 
wet  bodies  of  delicate  chicks  is  as  if  you  should  step  out 
of  doors  in  winter  directly  from  a  warm  bath.  The  door 
may  be  opened  perhaps  twice  in  twenty-four  hours,  for  a 
very  brief  time,  to  remove  some  of  the  empty  shells 
which  might  otherwise  cap  over  partly  pipped  eggs,  hope- 
lessly imprisoning  the  inmates,  and  also  the  older  active, 
well-dried  chicks  should  be  removed  and  basketed  or 
put  under  a  warm  brooder  hover,  lest  they  caper  around 
over  the  limp,  prostrate,  wet  ones. 


280  AN   EGG   FARM. 

Some  operators  advise  a  heat  of  106°  for  the  last  stages 
of  hatching  and  claim  it  is  of  no  consequence  if  the 
chicks  pant.  But,  although  an  adult  fowl  may  go 
around  panting  on  a  summer  day  when  the  mercury 
stands  at  106°  or  higher,  and  be  apparently  none  the 
worse  afterwards,  the  writer  is  quite  sure  that  the  same 
temperature  injures  delicate  chicks,  especially  as  they  do 
not  get  as  good  a  chance  at  a  little  fresh  air  as  if  in  the 
nest,  where  every  motion  they  make  operates  the  venti- 
lating fans  of  down.  Man  in  his  clumsy  attempts  to 
ventilate  mechanically  sometimes  has  a  shaft  run  through 
a  room  to  revolve  fans  for  his  comfort,  but  he  could 
never  attach  millions  of  exceedingly  minute  fans  to  his 
incubator  walls  to  be  moved  by  the  occupants.  Thus  do 
perfect  cosmic  provisions  mock  man's  puny  efforts. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

CARE   OF  THE   EGGS. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  hen  changes  the  position  of  the 
eggs,  thus  varying  the  heat  they  receive,  but  under  no 
circumstances  can  she  ever  make  them  too  hot;  unlike 
the  artificial  incubator  which  may  be  capable  of  reach- 
ing 105,  110  or  120°,  thus  killing  the  germs  out  and  out, 
or,  what  is  worse,  causing  imperfect  chicks  to  be  thrown 
on  the  unavailing  care  of  their  owner.  Chicks  may  be 
hatched  after  a  fashion  and  not  be  well  hatched.  The 
decree  of  nature  is  that  the  eggs  may,  from  time  to 
time,  be  held  at  a  point  several  degrees  below  the  nor- 
mal maximum  without  material  injury,  thus  allowing 
the  sitting  hen  to  forage  for  a  living,  but  a  decided 
departure  above  that  normal  is  detrimental  or  positively 
fatal. 

The  effect  of  too  much  or  too  protracted  cooling  is  to 
add  to  the  whole  term  of  hatching.  The  hen  may  be 
shut  out  of  her  nest  for  twenty-four  hours  in  moderately 
cool  weather  and  the  eggs  and  nest  become  so  chilled 
that  no  heat  whatever  can  be  detected  by  the  sense  of 
feeling,  yet  eleven  eggs  out  of  twelve  may  hatch — at  the 
end  of  the  twenty-second  day,  however,  instead  of  the 
middle  of  the  twenty-first,  as  the  vvriter  has  repeatedly 
demonstrated.  If  the  weather  is  decidedly  summery, 
thirty-six  hours  of  desertion  may  not  be  sufficient  to 
extinguish  life,  a  fact  the  ignorance  of  which  has  often 
led  people  to  unnecessarily  destroy  partially  hatched 
eggs.  On  the  other  hand  the  thorough  heating  through 
and  through  of  eggs  to  108°,  a  situation  which,  as  before 

281 


282  AN"    EGG    FARM. 

.,' 

noticed,  is  impossible  in  natural  incubation,  will  ruin 
them.  Stories  are  told  of  the  heat  in  the  incubator 
reaching  110  or  112°  for  a  brief  period  without  percepti- 
ble injury,  but  the  air  might  reach  that  degree,  and 
some  portions  of  some  of  the  eggs  reach  it  nearly  or 
quite  ;  yet  some  of  the  germs  in  some  of  the  eggs  might 
be  heated  not  more  than  106°  or  thereabouts,  not  quite 
reaching  the  point  of  danger,  since  it  ordinarily  takes 
hours  to  equalize  heat  thoroughly  between  the  air  and 
the  eggs. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  understood  from  what 
has  been  said  that  chilling,  resulting  in  delayed  hatch- 
ing, carries  no  injury  whatever  to  the  chicks,  for  they 
are  never  quite  perfect  when  brought  out  either  ahead  of 
or  behind  time.  The  eggs  will  endure  greater  variations 
of  temperature  in  the  air  around  them  after  the  twelfth 
day  than  before.  When  eggs  have  been  overheated  they 
may  be  sprinkled  with  moderately  cool  water  so  that 
evaporation  may  check  the  heat  without  delay.  If 
through  any  accident  the  temperature  has  been  for 
hours  a  degree  or  two  below  102°  or  103°,  the  machine 
should  be  run  an  equal  length  of  time  as  much  above,  so 
that  the  chicks  may  appear  when  due. 

SHOULD    EGGS   BE    COOLED? 

The  question  of  cooling  the  eggs  for  a  short  time  daily, 
merits  attention.  Referring  to  our  teacher,  we  find  that 
the  hen  leaves  her  nest  for  two  principal  things,  of 
which  it  is  hard  to  tell  which  is  the  more  important. 
She  must  have  food  and  drink,  and  she  must  run,  and  if 
of  an  active,  wingy  kind,  like  the  Games,  she  must  jump 
and  fly  also,  that  blood  circulation  and  a  good  head  of 
vitality  may  be  kept  up,  and  the  bowels  may  not  fail  of 
regular  action.  Food  and  exercise  are  what  she  leaves 
her  nest  for,  and  not  to  cool  the  eggs.  Whatever  cool- 


CARE    OF  THE   EGGS.  283 

ing  they  get  is  unimportant,  or  else  a  slight  but  neces- 
sary evil,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  care  she  takes  to  stick  to 
her  nest  for  days  at  a  time  in  cold  weather  or  indulge  in 
very  brief  absences,  while  she  treats  herself  to  liberal 
vacations  of  several  hours'  duration  when  the  mercury  is 
in  the  nineties. 

We  have  tried  thorough  coolings,  moderate  airings, 
and  none  at  all,  repeatedly,  and  with  results  always  in 
favor  of  the  latter,  when  every  other  condition  was  nor- 
mal. We  are  aware  that  experiments  of  others  have 
sometimes  shown  up  in  favor  of  cooling,  but  we  are  satis- 
fied that  in  such  cases  it  will  be  found,  on  close  investi- 
gation, that  the  eggs  had  first  been  subjected  to  too 
much  heat,  or  too  much  moisture,  or  both. 

To  cool  several  hundred  eggs  to  a  temperature  of  80° 
or  85°  or  thereabouts,  reduces  the  temperature  of  the 
egg  chamber  for  quite  a  time  when  they  are  returned  to 
it,  as  the  thermometer  and  regulator  will  show  you.  But 
the  warmth  of  the  hen,  whose  blood  has  been  quickened 
by  her  outing,  till  a  fine  glow  has  been  established,  very 
quickly  brings  back  the  heat  of  the  important  top  parts, 
where  the  germs  are,  of  the  small  number  of  eggs  she 
has  in  charge,  and  the  nest  itself  retains  heat  enough 
during  her  absence  to  keep  the  less  important  under 
parts  warm.  If  the  eggs  are  removed  from  the  incuba- 
tor to  be  turned,  the  machine  should  be  closed  at  once, 
especially  if  the  incubator  room  is  cold,  for  the  egg 
chamber  would  otherwise  part  with  its  warm  air  very  fast 
during  the  turning  of  the  eggs  and  the  shifting  of  them 
from  one  part  of  the  tray  to  another  part.  The  opera- 
tion of  testing  eggs  should  be  performed  in  a  room  of 
the  temperature  of  at  least  70°,  and  75°  or  80°  is  better 
if  the  operator  can  stand  it. 

The  eggs,  first,  last  and  all  the  time,  should  receive  as 
little  cooling  as  possible ;  for,  although  the  passage  of 
fresh  air  through  the  pores  of  the  shell  is  indispensable, 


284  N  EGG   FAKM. 

fluctuations  of  the  temperature  of  the  egg  are  not  neces- 
sary to  secure  it,  as  was  formerly  supposed.  The  benefi- 
cent oxygen  of  the  air  and  the  injurious  carbonic  acid 
gas,  or  carbon  dioxide  as  the  shorter  and  preferable  term 
is,  exhaled  from  the  embryo  as  it  grows,  will  exchange 
places  through  the  shell  and  mix,  urged  by  a  force  or 
tendency  inherent  in  their  nature.  Chemistry  teaches 
that  this  force  needs  no  assistance  from  the  alternate 
expansion  and  contraction  of  the  contents  of  the  egg 
consequent  on  heating  followed  by  cooling,  though 
poultry  men  once  universally  believed  this  assistance 
necessary. 

TURNING    THE    EGGS. 

While  cooling  the  eggs  is  to  be  avoided,  turning  them 
is  absolutely  indispensable,  as  abundant  experiments 
have  shown.  The  hen  does  not  turn  them  systematic- 
ally at  all.  Her  efforts  are  limited  to  shifting  them 
from  the  outer  edge  of  the  nest  to  the  center,  and  in 
accomplishing  this  purpose  she  necessarily  turns  them 
more  or  less.  They  may  turn  halfway  over,  or  three- 
quarters,  or  perform  one  or  more  complete  revolutions, 
and  possibly,  though  not  probably,  land  in  the  same 
position  as  before  starting.  There  is  no  "this  side  up 
with  care,"  but  they  take  their  chances,  and,  as  the  hen 
rolls  some  of 'them,  if  not  all,  several  times  in  twenty- 
four  hours,  by  the  laws  of  chance  they  are  prevented 
from  always  landing  on  the  same  side  even  if  they  some- 
times do. 

In  addition  to  the  rolling  performed  with  her  beak, 
she  moves  nearly  all  the  eggs  a  little  while  settling  down 
on  returning  from  a  foraging  expedition,  on  which  occa- 
sion she  makes  a  careful  though  quite  vigorous  shuffling 
to  give  room  for  her  feet  and  shanks.  The  hen,  unless 
very  tame,  does  not  ordinarily  meddle  with  her  eggs 
when  you  are  watching  her,  but  when  alone  repeats  her 


CARE   OF   THE    EGGS.  285 

fussing  of teuer  than  is  commonly  understood.  Hence 
the  practice,  which  is  correct,  of  turning  incubator  eggs 
twice  a  day,  this  being  none  too  often. 

The  structure  of  the  egg,  so  well  known  nowadays 
as  to  hardly  need  repetition,  is  such  that  the  minute 
germ  spot  which  is  the  seat  of  life  and  around  which 
the  chick  forms,  rises  always  at  the  top  of  the  egg 
whichever  side  up  the  latter  may  be  placed,  like  a  cork 
in  a  tight  barrel  of  water  when  the  barrel  is  rolled  over. 
In  nature,  when  the  new-laid  eggs  are  not  gathered,  but 
left  in  the  nest,  they  are  always  turned  a  little,  when  the 
number  has  reached  four  or  five,  by  the  layer  when  mak- 
ing room  for  her  feet  as  above  described,  and  sometimes, 
but  not  always,  she  rolls  the  eggs  with  her  beak  like  a 
sitter.  The  maternal  instincts  are  so  jumbled  in  some 
cases  by  the  taint  of  the  blood  of  a  non-sitting  breed 
introduced  at  some  time,  perhaps  a  long  while  ago,  into 
strains  of  sitters,  that  adherence  to  the  ancient  heredi- 
tary proprieties  is  not  always  precise.  As  all  gallina- 
ceous birds  prefer  to  make  their  nests  in  a  shady  and 
rather  moist  and  cool  place  and  afford  their  treasures 
some  change  of  position,  the  artificial  storage  of  eggs 
for  hatching  should  be  in  a  moderately  cool  and  not  over 
damp  cellar,  and  they  should  also  be  turned  at  least  once 
a  day. 

Rival  manufacturers  dispute  over  methods  of  turning 
eggs  by  the  incubator  operator.  One  says  that  they 
should  be  gently  rolled,  and  not  suddenly  flopped  by 
inverting  the  tray.  But  the  vigorous  shuffle  of  the 
hen's  feet  above  remarked,  and  the  fact  that  eggs  often 
hatch  well  after  having  been  carried  a  dozen  miles  by 
wagon  over  extremely  rough  and  rocky  roads,  or  two 
thousand  miles  by  rail,  shows  that  there  need  be  little 
solicitude  concerning  the  results  of  revolving  an  egg 
tray,  especially  as  nobody  goes  at  it  hammer  and  tongs, 
owing  to  the  fragile  nature  of  its  contents. 


286  AX    EGG    FAKM. 

One  celebrated  machine,  invented  by  a  very  eminent 
expert,  has  a  clock  attached  which  turns  the  eggs  every 
twelve  hours  whether  the  attendant  is  in  the  room,  or  in 
the  same  county,  or  not.  There  are  other  machines 
contrived  so  that  the  attendant  himself  may  work  an 
apparatus  to  turn  the  eggs  without  taking  them  out  of 
the  egg  chamber.  There  is  considerable  work  involved 
in  turning  and  otherwise  thoroughly  caring  for  a  large 
number  of  eggs  in  an  incubator,  trimming  the  lamps, 
etc. — decidedly  more  work  than  is  needed  in  caring  for 
an  equal  number  of  eggs  under  hens  and  managing  the 
sitting  birds,  provided  the  natural  method  is  followed 
under  a  first-class  system.  Hence  it  is  natural  enough 
for  incubator  attendants  to  welcome  labor-saving,  egg- 
turning  devices. 

But  whatever  method  of  turning  is  followed  there  are 
certain  steps  which  must  never  be  omitted.  The  trays 
must  be  turned  end  for  end,  and  if  there  are  two  trays 
these  must  change  places  every  time  the  eggs  are  turned, 
while  if  there  are  four  trays,  each  should,  in  the  course 
of  two  days'  routine,  occupy  each  of  the  four  corners  of 
the  egg  chamber.  Furthermore,  and  here  is  an  impor- 
tant matter  too  often  neglected,  the  eggs  at  the  center 
of  each  tray  must,  at  least  once  a  day,  and  twice  is  bet- 
ter, be  made  to  change  places  with  those  at  or  near  its 
edges.  There  is  a  knack  in  doing  this  to  reduce  the 
bother  to  the  minimum.  First  seize  as  many  outer  eggs 
as  can  be  grasped  in  both  hands,  and  place  them  on  top 
of  those  at  the  center  of  the  tray,  then  gently  crowd  the 
top  layer  down,  rolling  them  from  side  to  side  mean- 
while, to  make  them  settle  down  and  displace  the  others. 
This  will  roll  every  egg  in  the  tray  and  fill  the  vacant 
places  at  the  edges.  Thus,  the  changing  from  the 
warmer  to  the  cooler  positions  and  the  turning  are 
accomplished  at  the  same  time,  the  trays  being,  of 
course,  without  partitions. 


CARE   OF  THE    EGGS.  287 

This  systematic  changing  of  trays  and  of  the  eggs 
within  the  trays  is  absolutely  necessary  to  secure  the 
best  results  both  as  regards  the  vigor  of  the  chicks  and 
the  per  cent  hatched.  For,  be  it  remembered,  there  is  a 
liability,  and  a  very  great  liability  as  incubators  go,  of 
decided  differences  in  the  temperature  of  the  various 
sides  of  the  egg  chamber  compared  with  each  other, 
greater  differences  when  they  are  compared  with  the 
center,  and  still  greater  differences  when  the  center  is 
compared  with  the  corners,  these  last  being  the  coolest 
part  of  the  machine.  To  hold  the  heat  steady  at  the  place 
the  bulb  of  the  thermometer  occupies,  is  a  different  thing 
from  holding  it  the  same  at  all  parts  of  the  egg  chamber. 
The  cracks  at  the  door,  if  there  has  been  shrinkage, 
which  is  likely,  considering  the  severe  ordeal  an  in- 
incubator  door  has  to  undergo,  and  the  necessary  open- 
ings for  ventilation,  tend  to  make  the  air  vary  at  differ- 
ent trays  and  different  parts  of  the  same  tray.  But  if 
the  maximum  variation  is  no  greater  than  between  the 
center  of  a  sitting  hen's  nest  under  normal  conditions  ; 
if  the  operator  shifts  the  eggs  as  faithfully  as  the  hen 
does ;  if  the  average  temperature  for  twenty-one  days 
is  the  same  in  both  cases,  and  if  the  eggs  at  the  center  of 
machine,  or  at  the  warmest  point,  wherever  that  is, 
never  get  too  hot,  then  the  incubator  is  all  right  so  far 
as  heat  is  concerned.  It  may  be  run  thus  accurately,  but 
the  chances  are  against  it,  and  besides,  in  getting  the 
heat  right,  which  is  only  one  of  the  requisites,  the  mat- 
ter of  moisture  is  liable  to  be  made  all  wrong,  as  will 
appear  when  we  treat  the  question  of  evaporation  fur- 
ther on. 

MOISTURE. 

An  egg  is  composed  largely  of  water,  the  white  alone 
being  78  per  cent  of  water,  and  the  whole  egg  originally 
about  74  per  cent,  a  considerable  part  of  which  evapo- 


288  AN"   EGG    .FARM. 

rates  during  the  hatching  process  when  carried  on  by 
the  hen.  The  shell  is  porous,  permitting  the  escape  of 
moisture.  Although  the  normal  situation  for  the  nest, 
which  is  on  the  ground,  is  liable  to  be  more  or  less 
damp,  yet  a  spell  of  dry  weather  might  dry  up  the  eggs 
somewhat  before  sitting  begins,  and  in  some  cases  a  nest 
of  the  common  species  of  fowl,  or  of  a  grouse,  quail,  tur- 
key or  any  other  of  the  hen's  gallinaceous  congeners,  is 
liable  to  be  located  on  a  sandy  hillock  among  dry  leaves, 
where  very  little  moisture  will  reach  it  in  the  possible 
absence  of  rain  and  dew.  In  any  case,  the  time  after  an 
egg  is  laid  before  the  hatching  of  the  same  begins  is,  in 
a  state  of  nature,  only  from  a  day  or  two  to  a  fortnight 
or  so,  and  the  shell  being  but  moderately  pervious  to 
moisture,  no  great  diminution  of  water  in  its  composi- 
tion occurs. 

After  incubation  begins,  the  heat  of  the  hen's  body 
not  only  dries  the  nest  and  the  ground  for  a  little  dis- 
tance under  and  around  it,  but  by  raising  the  eggs  to  the 
comparatively  high  temperature  of  about  102°,  would  in 
a  little  while  render  their  contents  too  dry,  except  for  a 
beautiful  provision  of  nature  consisting  in  the  glazing 
of  the  shells.  A  few  days  after  the  hen  begins  to  sit 
upon  her  eggs  a  secretion  from  her  feathers  or  skin  par- 
tially closes  the  minute  pores  of  the  shell.  Incubator 
operators  have  tried  to  imitate  this  glazing  by  using  oil 
from  the  oil  gland  at  the  rump  of  a  fowl,  and  other  sub- 
stances, but  have  never  succeeded.  Some  of  the  secrets 
of  Mother  Nature  are  very  subtle  and  elusive.  Take  a 
dozen  eggs  and  place  them  under  a  sitting  hen  and 
another  dozen  from  the  same  lot  and  put  them  in  an 
incubator.  After  the  twelve  under  the  hen  have  become 
well  glazed,  place  them  in  a  pail  of  water  with  the  oth- 
ers from  the  incubator.  The  result  will  be  that  the  last 
named  will  absorb  water  through  the  shell,  and  sink, 
while  the  glazed  eggs  still  float.  But  while  nature  has 


CARE    OF   THE   EGGS.  289 

provided  means  of  checking  evaporation  from  the  eggs 
by  means  of  this  glazing  during  the  early  stages  of  incu- 
bation, yet  considerable  drying  out  of  the  water  in  the 
egg  is  useful  at  the  later  stages,  and  accordingly  the 
shell  gradually  dissolves  away  from  the  inside,  the  lime 
in  its  composition  being  used  to  form  the  bones  of  the 
embryo.  Water  must  now  escape  quite  fast  or  the  chick 
will  have  no  room  to  grow  or  breathe. 

Often  the  incubator  operator  after  testing  the  eggs 
and  removing  all  but  the  promising  ones  and  finding 
everything  going  well,  apparently,  up  to  the  eighteenth 
day,  finds  finally  a  disheartening  per  cent  dead  in  the 
shell.  In  such  cases  the  embryos  are  almost  fully  devel- 
oped and  very  large  and  moist,  packing  the  shell  tightly, 
they  having  been  waterlogged,  swelled  and  literally 
drowned.  They  appear  so  large  and  strong  that  the 
operator  is  puzzled  to  know  what  has  happened  to  kill 
such  promising,  healthy  looking  chicks.  Of  course  the 
true  cause  of  such  a  state  of  things  was  that  the  water 
pans  in  the  incubator  contained  too  much  evaporating 
surface. 

Those  people  who  claim  that  it  is  as  easy  as  falling  off 
a  log  to  run  a  good,  properly  constructed  incubator  and 
that  "a  child  can  do  it,"  should  read  the  following 
statement  of  Mr.  Rudd  :  "  It  is  practically  impossible  to 
delegate  the  care  of  incubators  to  hired  help.  ***** 
Although  employing  from  five  to  eight  men  on  the  farm, 
some  of  our  own  family  always  take  entire  charge  of  the 
machines."  And  in  regard  to  moisture,  which  is  only 
one  of  several  tilings  which  must  be  right,  Yon  Culm 
says  : 

"  Some  one  will  say, '  what  a  lot  of  fuss  about  moisture !  Let  me  give 
you  thd  whole  thing  in  a  nutshell.  Find  out  just  what  degree  of 
humidity  is  needed  in  the  egg  chamber  for  each  week  or  day,  make 
slide  covers  for  your  moisture  pans,  place  a  moisture  gauge  in  the  egg 
chamber  and  hang  up  your,  moisture  schedule  beside  the  machine. 
When  you  want  more  moisture  slide  open  the  covers,  and  when  you 
want  less,  close  them.  Isn't  that  simple  ?' 

19 


290  AN    EGG    FARM. 

"  Yes,  dear  friend,  wiser  heads  than  yours  or  ours  thought  of  that 
years  ago,  but  it  would  not  work  then,  and  it  will  not  work  now. 

"Why?  For  various  reasons;  among  them :  The  Great  Ruler  of  the 
Universe  will  not  permit  us  to  slide  the  covers  of  His  moisture  pans; 
and  while  we  are  obliged  to  circulate  fresh  air  in  the  egg  chambers  of 
our  machines,  we  are  obliged  to  have  it  more  or  less  humid  or  dry,  just 
as  it  comes  from  the  breath  of  nature.  The  hygrometer  is  useful  to 
experiment  with,  provided  it  is  a  good  one,  but  few  of  those  which  are 
sold  to  poultry  men  are  reliable.  Still  some  one  says, '  Well,  I  know 
that  the  humidity  of  the  atmosphere  varies  some,  but  I  still  believe  I 
can  work  it  with  the  moisture  gauge  and  the  sliding  covers  on  mois- 
ture pans.' 

"  Very  well,  we  will  ask  you  for  one  demonstration,  and  if  you  make 
that  satisfactory,  we  will  ask  for  one  or  two  more— but  one  will  prob- 
ably be  all  you  want  at  a  time. 

"Let  us  suppose  that  you  conclude  that  you  want  thirty  degrees  of 
moisture  in  the  egg  chamber  the  first  week,  thirty-five  the  second  and 
part  of  the  third,  with  ninety  degrees  from  the  pipping  of  the  first 
egg?  All  right.  We  will  take  for  granted  that  your  gauge  is  correct. 
Well,  here  we  are  at  the  beginning  of  the  first  week.  You  have  not 
yet  put  any  water  in  your  pans  but  your  moisture  gauge  indicates 
sixty-five  degrees  of  humidity,  and  your  thermometer  one  hundred 
and  three  degrees  of  temperature.  What  is  the  matter;  why  don't 
you  reduce  the  humidity?  You  place  another  moisture  gauge  in  the 
room  where  you  operate  your  incubator,  and  you  find  that  the  humid- 
ity there  is  ninety  degrees.  You  hang  a  gauge  in  the  open  air  out  of 
doors  and  it  registers  ninety-five  degrees.  You  only  want  thirty 
degrees  in  the  egg  chamber;  how  are  you  going  to  reduce  it  to  thirty?" 

Allowing  the  incubator  to  approach  a  too  high  tem- 
perature and  then  reducing  it  by  having  valves  opened 
by  an  automatic  regulator,  lowers  the  heat  effectually,  it 
is  true,  but  at  the  same  time  carries  off  moisture  at  a 
great  rate  and  the  embryo  is  in  danger  of  becoming  too 
dry,  a  condition  as  fatal  as  the  opposite  one.  Relying 
on  ventilation  to  govern  the  temperature  is  dangerous. 
The  regulator  should  check  the  heat  when  there  is  risk 
of  too  much,  not  by  letting  out  warm  air,  which  has 
received  and  holds  moisture  imparted  by  the  eggs,  and 
letting  in  cold  air  to  suck  still  more  moisture  from 
them  (for  air  in  becoming  warmed  becomes  thirsty ; 
that  is,  its  capacity  for  taking  water  is  increased  and  it 
will  dry  out  the  eggs  fast),  but  by  lessening  the  flame 
of  the  lamp.  The  flame  may  be  lowered  by  having  the 
regulator  work  an  apparatus  to  check  the  draft  of  the 


CARE   OF  THE  EGGS.  291 

lamp  by  dropping  a  thin,  very  light,  circular  metallic 
plate  over  the  top  of  the  chimney,  or  by  turning  down 
the  wick  or  shortening  it  by  a  sliding  tube,  the  method  by 
lessening  the  draft  being  preferable  because  needing 
less  power  and  therefore  being  more  delicate  and  certain 
in  its  working.  Now  here  we  approach  a  difficulty.  No 
matter  how  perfectly  the  heat  regulator  works  there 
must  still  be  some  change  of  air  or  it  will  become 
impure,  because  the  eggs  exhale  a  poisonous  gas,  carbon 
dioxide  or  carbonic  acid  gas,  when  the  embryos  are 
growing,  too  much  of  which  gas  in  the  egg  chamber 
would  seriously  impair  or  utterly  ruin  them. 

Now,  as  the  temperature  of  the  air  will  vary  outside 
the  incubator,  and  the  moisture  it  contains  differs  widely 
in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  at  different  times 
and  seasons  in  the  same  section,  it  is  evident  that  no 
hard  and  fast  rules  can  be  set  for  supplying  moisture. 
Each  operator  should  obey  the  instructions  given  by  the 
manufacturer  for  the  use  of  his  machine,  remembering 
that  the  admission  of  air  to  the  eggs  in  cold  weather  or 
very  dry  weather  will  evaporate  moisture  from  them 
faster  than  when  the  air  is  warm  or  damp  outside.  For 
it  must  always  be  kept  in  mind  that  warming  a  volume 
of  air  increases  its  thirst,  as  we  may  say ;  that  is,  it 
increases  its  affinity  for  moisture  and  makes<it  drink 
from  the  most  available  source  of  supply — from  moisture 
pans  or  wet  sponges  if  they  are  present,  or  if  not,  from 
the  eggs.  The  only  way  to  success  is  to  use  your  rea- 
son. If  you  change  the  air  but  little  and  slowly,  as  the 
hen  does,  and  ir  there  is  summer  weather  or  mild  spring 
weather,  or  if  the  locality  itself  is  a  moist  one,  as  on  a 
damp  seacoast  for  example,  or  if  the  location  is  moist,  a 
damp  cellar  for  instance,  you  will  need  to  have  but  little 
water  in  your  incubator,  or  none  at  all,  and  everything 
will  be  all  right  so  far  as  moisture  is  concerned.  On 
the  other  hand  if  the  weather  is  cold,  or  rather  if  the 


202  A^   EGG   FARM. 

room  in  which  your  machine  is  kept  is  cold,  and  you 
are  in  the  arid  or  semi-arid  region  between  the  one  hun- 
dredth meridian  and  the  Sierras,  you  will  need  to  sup- 
ply more  moisture  than  the  directions  accompanying 
your  machine  call  for.  Nothing  in  the  world  will 
answer  except  careful  trials,  changing  the  amount  of 
water, — or  rather  the  area  of  your  shallow  moisture  pans, 
since  the  evaporation  depends  on  the  extent  of  surface 
exposed  and  not  on  the  quantity  of  water, — according  to 
results  and  surrounding  conditions. 

The  care  and  skill,  patience  and  judgment  necessary 
to  run  an  incubator  are  so  great  that  those  individuals 
possessing  these  qualities  cannot  afford  to  run  one,  as  a 
general  thing.  They  are  wanted  in  other  employments. 
Suppose  you  try  what  seems  to  be  a  reasonable  quantity 
of  moisture  for  your  locality  and  for  the  number  of 
rainy  and  foggy  days  that  you  have  reason  to  expect  at 
the  season  of  the  year,  and  you  get  a  good  hatch.  It 
will  not  do  for  you  to  say  :  "  Now  I  have  found  the  cor- 
rect notch  and  will  stick  to  it."  You  can  safely  stick  to 
it  so  long  as  the  weather  remains  as  before,  but  if  the 
atmospheric  conditions  change,  you  must  be  governed 
by  circumstances.  Yet  it  is  said,  f(  a  child "  can  run 
the  machine.  The  fact  is,  the  incubator  dealers  know 
that  if  the  prospective  customers  were  told  that  all  is 
not  plain  sailing  they  would  in  many  cases  lose  sales. 

The  hen,  as  we  have  seen,  sticks  to  her  job  in  cold 
weather,  and  it  should  be  observed  that  in  windy  weather 
especially,  when  uncovered  eggs  would  dry  out  the  fast- 
est, she  broods  her  nest  with  unusual  care  and  will 
endure  hunger  and  thirst  for  days  at  a  time  rather  than 
leave  them  for  an  instant.  Who  has  not  observed  that 
there  are  times  when  if  the  sitting  hen  is  removed  from 
her  charge  she  will  immediately  return  in  spite  of  a 
bribe  of  unusually  tempting  food  offered  her  ?  Even  the 
most  timid  hen  will  at  such  times  fight  you  to  get  back 


CARE    OF   THE    EGGS.  293 

to  her  nest.  At  the  same  time  the  eggs  are  not  smoth- 
ered by  this  devotion,  for  the  texture  of  her  feathers  is 
such  that  during  high  winds  a  little  air  will  surely  strain 
through  them  no  matter  how  closely  she  broods,  while 
the  poisonous  emanations  will  escape,  and,  unlike  the 
incubator,  she  cannot  possibly  become  hot  enough  under 
any  circumstances  to  ruin  the  eggs,  any  more  than  the 
temperature  of  a  human  being  in  health  can  rise  above  a 
certain  point.  Her  vital  fires  are  absolutely  limited  as 
regards  excessive  heat,  When  the  air  is  damp,  warm  and 
still,  she  leaves  the  nest  at  slight  inducements  and  remains 
away  quite  a  time,  unless  there  are  signs  of  an  approach- 
ing storm,  in  which  case  she  hurries  to  lay  in  a  supply  of 
food  in  the  shortest  time  possible,  and  hastens  back. 
Lest  the  reader  think  we  are  attributing  too  much  to 
her  powers  of  discernment,  it  may  be  remarked  that  not 
the  sitting  fowl  alone,  but  animals  generally  possess  a 
keen  sense  of  impending  storms.  The  swine  will  carry 
straw  to  their  bed  at  such  times,  and  all  wild  animals, 
whether  birds  or  quadrupeds,  are  very  active  in  hunting 
for  food,  which  they  devour  with  unusual  greed,  as  if 
impressed  with  the  urgency  for  laying  up  for  a  rainy 
day.  Yet  for  this  monitor,  sensitive  to  coming  atmos- 
pheric changes  which  man  with  all  his  intellect  cannot 
discern,  this  engineer  always  on  duty,  this  living  ther- 
mometer, barometer,  and  aerometer,  a  wooden  box  is 
substituted  and  "a  child  can  run  it! " 

As  regards  the  superiority  of  the  natural  covering  to 
the  eggs,  afforded  by  the  hen's  feathers,  compared  with 
the  incubator  walls,  Cyphers,  unlike  numerous  other 
writers  who  have  a  machine  to  sell,  frankly  acknowledges 
the  inferiority  of  such  walls,  and  points  out  with  empha- 
sis that  the  down  and  feathers  control  physical  forces 
which  exert  an  important  influence  over  the  embryonic 
development.  He  says  : 

"Other  conditions  being  equal,  the  degree  of  humidity  ordinarily 
existing  in  the  atmospheric  air  is  sufficient  for  successful  incubation, 


294  AN   EGG   FARM. 

providing  that  the  tension  of  the  moisture  in  the  two  atmospheres 
remains  the  same,  and  that  the  rate  of  movement  of  the  air  surround- 
ing the  eggs  exercises  a  more  powerful  influence  on  evaporation  than 
the  usual  variations  of  humidity.  In  the  construction  of  our  hatching 
chamber,  therefore,  there  are  four  features  of  vital  importance  to  be 
considered,  viz.,  a  non-conducting  wall  that  will  protect  the  eggs 
from  outward  changes  of  temperature ;  a  provision  for  maintaining 
the  atmospheric  air  within  the  chamber  in  a  pure  state;  the  mainte- 
nance cf  as  great  a  tension  of  aqueous  vapor  in  the  inner  as  in  the 
outer  atmosphere  for  their  respective  temperatures,  and  the  control 
of  the  movement  of  the  air  around  the  eggs. 

"  In  natural  incubation  the  purity  of  the  air  surrounding  the  eggs  is 
maintained  by  exchanges  with  the  outer  atmosphere  through  the 
wall  or  septum  that  intervenes.  This  wall  is  composed  of  down  and 
feathers,  which  allow  of  a  spontaneous  diffusion  of  gases  or  vapors 
through  them,  while  they  are  sufficiently  dense  to  hold  any  current 
in  check  by  frictional  resistance.  It  is  therefore  obvious  that  the  nat- 
ural provision  for  maintaining  the  purity  of  the  air  around  the  eggs 
also  provides,  through  the  same  medium,  for  the  retention  of  warmth, 
for  an  equilibrium  between  the  relative  humidity  of  the  two  atmos- 
pheres, and  for  the  control  of  the  movement  of  the  inner  air.  And  as 
it  is  the  nature  of  the  fabric  of  which  the  wall  is  constructed  that  con- 
trols the  physical  forces  of  incubation,  that  is,  the  storage  of  warmth, 
and  the  purity,  humidity  and  movement  of  the  air  surrounding  the 
eggs,  it  is  evident  that  we  have  not  appreciated,  or  even  understood, 
its  function." 

VENTILATION. 

This  subject  is,  as  we  have  said,  intimately  connected 
with  the  supply  of  moisture.  Indeed  the  three  factors, 
heat,  moisture  and  pure  air,  are  all  closely  related  and 
act  and  react  on  each  other,  rendering  perfect  artificial 
incubation  much  more  difficult  than  it  would  otherwise 
be  ;  for  in  ventilating  we  may  remove  too  much  damp- 
ness as  well  as  heat,  and  in  warming  newly  introduced 
air  we  change  its  capacity  for  moisture,  and  make  it 
"drink  like  a  fish."  To  hatch  eggs  in  a  good  incubator 
is  rather  easy,  though  demanding  some  ability ;  to 
hatch  them  well  so  that  they  will  be  real  good  ones  is 
moderately  difficult,  and  to  rear  them  in  good  shape, 
artificially,  is  decidedly  difficult. 

Nobody  ever  succeeded  in  hatching  eggs  the  shells  of 
which  had  been  made  air-tight  by  a  coat  of  varnish,  or 
eggs  placed  in  a  hermetically  sealed  chamber,  showing 


CARE   OF   THE    EGGS.  295 

that  ventilation  is  an  absolute  necessity.  But  if  air  is 
admitted  to  the  egg  chamber  in  currents,  excessive  evap- 
oration is  liable  to  result,  and  this  is  not  all ;  for  there  is 
danger  that  some  portions  of  the  chamber  will  be  cooled 
faster  than  the  others.  It  is  hard  to  warm  an  apart- 
ment, large  or  small,  uniformly  in  every  part  at  the 
same  level,  even  when  the  air  is  at  rest,  and  still  harder 
when  there  are  gusts  and  eddies  of  cold  air. 

The  plant  and  animal  both  need  oxygen.  The  latter 
while  taking  it  in  gives  out  carbon  dioxide,  a  noxious 
gas,  the  excessive  accumulation  of  which  in  the  air 
around  the  animal  would  cause  its  death,  though  it  is  life 
to  the  plant.  This  gas  is  heavier  than  air,  hence  it  was 
once  believed  that  it  would  settle  to  the  bottom  of  a  room, 
as  water  seeks  the  bottom  when  it  is  placed  in  the  same 
vessel  with  oil ;  but  this  notion  was  exploded  when  the 
law  of  the  miscibility  of  gases  was  discovered.  Through 
this  law,  gravity  is  overcome  by  a  stronger  force,  which 
compels  two  gases  to  mix,  and  if  one  is  much  heavier 
than  the  other,  this  mixing  power  is  all  the  stronger. 
Aside  from  any  currents  of  air  whatever  in  the  air 
chamber,  the  carbon  dioxide  exhaled  from  the  eggs 
becomes  diffused  through  all  the  air  in  the  chamber. 
Then  if  no  more  of  this  gas  should  be  produced,  the 
air  and  gas  in  the  apartment  would  be  in  what  is  called 
an  equilibrium.  Now  suppose  the  air  in  the  incubator 
should  contain  a  greater  proportion  of  the  poison  than 
the  air  outside  does,  and  suppose  it  were  possible  to  heat 
and  maintain  the  air  outside,  in  the  incubator  cellar,  on 
a  level  with  the  machine,  at  absolutely  the  same  degree 
as  on  the  inside  of  the  latter,  and  a  small  door  should  be 
opened  between  the  air  chamber  and  the  cellar ;  there 
would,  of  course,  be  such  a  perfect  balance  of  tempera- 
ture within  and  without  the  egg  chamber  that  there 
would  be  no  draft  through  this  door.  But  now,  although 
the  heat  is  in  equilibrium  between  the  inside  and  out- 


296  AX   EGG   FARM. 

side  of  incubator,  the  gas  is  not,  and  portions  of  the  poi- 
son will  at  once  begin  to  move  from  the  inside  to  the 
outside  and  their  places  will  be  taken  by  constituents  of 
the  air  which  will  move  from  the  outside  to  the  inside, 
even  in  the  absence  of  any  draft  whatever  such  as  differ- 
ence in  temperature  creates,  and  this  process  will  go  on 
until  the  air  inside  holds  exactly  the  same  per  cent  of 
poison  as  the  air  in  the  cellar.  We  are  supposing,  of 
course,  that  no  more  of  the  poison  was  formed  within 
the  eggs  and  exhaled  meanwhile. 

The  above  illustration  shows  what  is  meant  by  the 
miscibility  of  gases,  If  the  carbon  dioxide  keeps  com- 
ing from  the  embryo,  as  it  will,  then  nature  will  keep 
removing  it,  independent  of  air  circulation  created  by 
heat,  if  there  are  exits.  The  poison  from  the  eggs  under 
the  hen  is  bound  to  escape  through  the  millions  of  inter- 
stices in  the  downy  portions  of  her  feathers,  no  matter 
if  these  enfold  her  nest  so  closely  in  cold  weather  that 
the  frictional  resistance  keeps  the  air  from  passing 
through.  This  wonderful  law  of  diffusion  sets  inertia, 
gravity  and  friction  at  defiance,  being  more  potent  than 
they. 

Manufacturers  of  the  best  modern  incubators  take  a 
leaf  out  of  nature's  book,  and,  avoiding  upward  ventila- 
tion, make  the  egg  chamber  perfectly  air-tight  at  top  and 
sides.  The  purchaser  should  correct  shrinkage  of  mate- 
rial at  door  and  doorway,  if  any  occur  after  the  heat  has 
had  time  to  take  effect,  so  that  the  door  shall  shut 
closely.  The  manufacturer  also  bores  a  set  01  small 
holes  through  the  bottom  of  the  egg  chamber,  these 
being  furnished  with  buttons  which  may  be  turned  over 
them  as  desired.  These  holes  permit  the  escape  of  the 
poisonous  carbon  dioxide.  This  escape  will  be  slow,  but 
constant,  and  the  excessive  drying  out  of  the  e^rgs, 
which  a  current  of  air  would  cause,  is  avoided.  For  an 
incubator  of  this  sort,  perfectly  air-tight  at  top  and  sides, 


CARE   OF    THE   EGGS.  297 

with  half-inch  holes  bored  in  the  bottom,  Cyphers  gives 
the  following  as  the  number  of  holes  required  for  each 
hundred  eggs  to  keep  the  air  of  the  egg  chamber  reason- 
ably pure  : 

"  For  the  first  ten  days  of  incubation,  under  an  outer  atmospheric 
temperature  of  from  50  to  70°,  three  holes ;  under  an  atmospheric  tem- 
perature of  from  30  to  50°,  two  holes.  From  the  tenth  day  to  exclu- 
sion, under  an  atmospheric  temperature  of  from  55  to  70°,  six  holes ; 
under  an  atmospheric  temperature  of  from  40  to  55°,  five  holes; 
and  under  an  atmospheric  temperature  below  40°,  four  holes.  The 
number  of  holes  given  above  is  for  a  chamber  which  is  opened  morn- 
ing and  night.  There  is  no  way  of  shifting  the  position  of  the  eggs  or 
trays  without  opening  the  chamber,  and  unless  their  position  is 
changed  so  as  to  equalize  the  heat  received,  it  is  impossible  to  suc- 
cessfully incubate  a  large  number  of  eggs  in  one  apartment.'* 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE   INCUBATOR   ROOM. 

The  best  place  for  incubators  is  in  a  room  part 
of  which  is  underground.  it  may  be  excavated  in 
the  side  of  a  bank  so  as  to  have  earth  outside  the 
walls  on  three  of  its  sides,  and  may  also  be  covered  with 
earth  on  top  of  a  waterproof  roof.  On  level  ground,  a 
good  way  is  to  excavate  two  or  three  feet,  so  that  the 
floor  of  your  cellar  may  be  reached  by  steps  outside,  the 
walls  being  of  stone  or  hard-baked  brick  laid  in  cement 
mortar,  and  banked  up  with  earth  to  the  eaves,  where 
there  should  be  good  eave  troughs.  The  roof  may  be  of 
any  usual  pitch  and  shingled,  and  instead  of  being  cov- 
ered with  earth  the  building  inside  may  be  kept  free 
from  the  effects  of  the  sun  in  summer  and  from  cold  in 
winter  by  making  a  tight,  level  floor  over  the  main  room 
from  plate  to  plate  so  that  there  will  be  a  V-shaped  attic 
apartment,  which  should  be  first  made  rat-proof  and 
mouse-proof,  and  then  packed  closely  from  top  to  bot- 
tom with  hay  or  straw.  This  style  the  writer  has  found 
preferable  to  an  earth-covered  roof,  because  the  cost  is 
considerable  if  you  make  the  latter  water-tight,  as  it 
must  be,  and  strong  enough  to  support  the  weight  of 
earth  with  an  added  burden  of  rain  or  snow. 

The  ideal  incubator  cellar  should  never  be  warmer 
than  60°,  nor  cooler  than  40°.  In  a  room  above  ground 
with  a  liability  of  the  weather  temperature  crowding 
100°,  and  chicks  or  ducklings  nearly  ready  to- break  the 
shell,  the  animal  heat  will  sometimes  run  the  tempera- 
ture up  to  108°  or  110°,  even  with  the  lights  out,  neces- 

298 


THE   INCUBATOR   ROOM.  299 

sitating  sprinkling  the  eggs  every  few  hours  to  prevent 
their  ruin.  Too  much  ventilation  of  your  cellar  should 
not  be  allowed,  for  with  every  admission  of  air,  changes 
of  temperature  are  liable  to  occur.  Have  just  enough  to 
keep  the  air  reasonably  pure.  The  floor  should  be  pref- 
erably of  carefully  smoothed  cement,  permitting  an  occa- 
sional scrubbing.  It  is  best  to  have  windows  enough  so 
that  the  thermometers  may  be  read  easily  and  the  win- 
dows should  be  doubled,  or  at  all  events  cased  and  fitted 
very  carefully,  to  guard  against  both  ingress  and  egress 
of  air.  For  egg  testing,  it  will  be  found  an  excellent 
plan  to  have  a  side  door  leading  to  a  small  room,  which 
may  be  warmed  to  the  temperature  previously  directed. 

THE  IKCUBATOR  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

The  teasel,  with  its  elastic  natural  hooks,  cannot  be 
equaled  for  cloth  manufacturers'  use  in  combing  fine 
fibers  of  wool,  by  any  artificial  hooks  or  springs  of  the 
most  delicate  mechanism  the  art  of  man  has  yet  pro- 
duced in  trials  lasting  through  centuries,  and  as  this  is 
a  triumph  of  merely  a  humble  plant,  so  the  feathers  of 
the  sitting  bird  of  the  animal  kingdom,  higher  up  in  the 
scale  of  life,  can  never  be  equaled  by  human  ingenuity. 
Incubators  of  ordinary  size,  holding  a  few  hundred  or  a 
thousand  eggs,  but  too  small  for  the  attendant  himself  to 
enter,  have  been  made  better  and  better  for  thirty  years, 
till  the  best  of  these  are  hardly  susceptible  of  further 
improvement,  unless,  indeed,  a  way  is  found  to  make  the 
walls  of  the  egg  chamber  of  feathers  or  of  some  other 
material  permeable  to  carbolic  acid  gas,  yet  resisting  air 
currents,  and  so  good  a  non-conductor  as  to  retain  heat 
well.  There  comes  a  time  when  an  ordinary  material 
product  of  man's  skill  reaches  its  culminating  point. 
Plows,  for  instance,  have  been  improved  from  the  initial 
crooked  root  or  snag  of  wood  through  numerous  stages 


300  AN    EGG   FARM. 

to  the  polished  steel  implement  of  to-day,  every  promis- 
ing curve  of  mould  board  having  been  tried  meanwhile, 
until  it  is  probable  that  the  plows  of  a  hundred  years 
hence  will  not  be  a  whit  better  than  those  we  have, 
although  it  is  likely  that  our  descendants  will  propel 
theirs  in  ways  we  cannot  even  guess. 

The  incubator  of  the  future  will  hold  15,000  or  30,000 
eggs,  or  more,  and  will  be  large  enough  for  the  opera- 
tors to  go  into.  Perhaps  the  room  will  be  quite  high, 
and  the  floor  supporting  the  egg  racks  will  be  arranged 
elevator  style,  so  that  it  may  be  raised  or  lowered  almost 
instantly  to  secure  the  desired  temperature,  a  graduated 
scale  on  the  wall  showing  how  much  the  altitude  must 
be  changed  to  change  the  heat  to  a  degree  or  a  fraction 
of  a  degree.  By  relays  of  attendants,  the  heat,  air  and 
moisture  will  be  governed  personally  every  hour  and 
every  minute,  instead  of  being  left  to  blind  machine  reg- 
ulation. Nothing  but  constant  human  supervision  will 
ever  conquer  the  difficulties  that  mark  the  gull  between 
the  best  incubators  and  the  mother  bird — for  she  is  on 
duty  all  the  time.  We  are  told  that  John  Champion  in 
1770  used  a  room  he  could  enter.  He  was  the  first 
white  "  champion  "  of  the  large  room  plan,  though  this 
had  been  exploited  by  people  of  another  complexion  for 
hundreds  and  probably  thousands  of  years  previously. 
The  wheel  will  come  full  circle  and  the  artificial  incuba- 
tion of  the  twentieth  century  will  revert  to  the  primitive 
large  apartment. 

Let  us  see  how  the  large  room  for  eggs  and  the  wait- 
ing room  for  the  attendants,  who  keep  constant  watch 
of  all  the  conditions,  can  be  combined  with  the  electric 
signal  already  in  use  by  incubator  operators  to  transmit 
news  of  temperature  from  their  machine  to  their  office 
or  sleeping  room,  and  with  revolving  fans  such  as  have 
already  been  adopted  in  the  construction  of  at  least  one 
mammoth  incubator,  and  with  a  spraying  machine  to 


THE   INCUBATOR    ROOM.  301 

govern  moisture,  which  is  a  part  of  the  same  machine. 
Surely  an  attendant,  clad  to  suit,  or  suited  without  a 
suit,  can  stay  a  short  time  in  the  egg  room  without  par- 
ticular discomfort.  There  are  quite  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  crafts  which  compel  workmen  to  encounter  a 
decidedly  higher  temperature,  and  cannot  a  man,  if  he 
can  explore  the  region  where  the  eggs  are,  and  have 
enough  of  them  in  the  works  to  pay  for  constant  super- 
vision, change  the  air  by  gentle  currents  with  nicely 
adjusted  fans  moved  by  cunning  machinery  completely 
under  his  control?  The  incubating  room  can  be  located 
in  the  center  of  a  still  larger  room,  the  latter  being  held 
at  an  almost  absolutely  even  temperature.  The  walls 
of  the  outer  room  can  be  built  in  such  a  way  as  to  shut 
out  all  influence  of  outside  winds,  dampness  and  dry- 
ness,  heat  and  cold. 

The  large  incubator  room  alluded  to  is  at  "  Aratoma 
Farm,"  Stamford,  Ct.  The  writer  has  never  seen  it  nor 
communicated  with  its  inventor  or  proprietor,  nor  with 
anybody  connected  with  it,  but  has  read  a  newspaper 
account  of  it.  Everything  points  to  the  success  of  the 
idea.  The  big  stores  and  factories  run  out  the  small 
ones,  as  the  big  fish  eat  up  the  little  ones,  and  the  box 
incubators  will  be  devoured  by  the  apartment  incubator. 
Brooding  hens,  when  properly  managed,  beat  the  small 
incubators,  and  by  small  we  designate  all  that  are  custo- 
marily shipped  by  rail  or  wagon  ;  but  the  mammoth 
incubator  built  where  used  will  beat  both.  The  highest 
talent  can  be  afforded  to  run  it,  the  highest  degree  of 
certainty  in  operation  can  be  secured  by  it,  at  the  mini- 
mum of  cost  for  supplying  heat,  moisture  and  ventila- 
tion, because  of  the  great  number  of  eggs  it  will  hold. 

We  have  seen  how  the  comparatively  miserable,  small, 
puttering  incubator,  in  its  attempts  at  letting  out  foul 
air,  carried  off  dampness  also  and  introduced  cool  air, 
which  in  becoming  warmed  robbed  the  eggs  of  their 


302  AN   EGG   FARM. 

normal  moisture.  Now  the  problem  of  warming  dwell- 
ings and  accomplishing  ventilation  at  the  same  time  has 
been  solved  satisfactorily  by  introducing  a  current  of 
air  into  the  room  which  is  to  be  warmed.  An  exit  reg- 
ister must  first  be  opened  at  or  near  the  bottom  of  this 
room  to  let  some  cool  air  out  so  that  the  warm  air  will 
have  room  to  get  in.  This  warm  air  is  procured  at  first 
while  cold  from  the  pure  air  outdoors  through  a  large 
pipe,  and  made  to  come  in  contact  with  a  coil  of  pipes 
heated  by  hot  water  or  steam,  after  which  it  ascends,  by 
the  lightness  the  heat  gives  it,  to  the  room  where  it  is 
wanted.  Similar  apparatus  can  be  used  in  the  mam- 
moth incubator.  The  hot  air  and  cool  air  also,  led  in 
through  a  separate  pipe,  can  be  forced  anywhere  by 
means  of  fan  wheels  run  at  high  speed,  and  nicely 
adjusted  registers  can  shut  it  off  at  will.  The  spraying 
machine  can  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  air  that  is  being 
warmed,  and  as  much  humidity  can  be  supplied  as 
desired,  and  no  more,  at  the  pleasure  of  the  operator, 
who  may  be  guided  by  the  air  reservoir  at  the  end  of  a 
fertile  egg,  as  is  done  at  Stamford,  or  employ  a  more 
artificial  moisture  gauge,  such  as  is  used  by  scientists. 

It  is  not  apparent  that  gentle  currents  of  fresh  air  of 
just  the  right  temperature  can  injure  the  eggs,  provided 
it  is  just  moist  enough.  Also  if  these  currents  are  cre- 
ated but  seldom,  the  amount  of  ventilation  will  prove 
sufficient,  owing  to  the  great  bulk  of  the  air  enclosed  in 
so  large  a  room.  The  means  at  the  command  of  the 
operators  will  enable  them  to  change  the  air  as  often  as 
called  for  by  experience.  The  heat  and  humidity 
in  a  box,  a  parlor,  or  a  big  cathedral  even,  can  be  con- 
trolled to  a  nicety  by  the  aid  of  modern  appliances,  if 
a  man  has  nothing  else  to  do  but  tend  them,  and  in  no 
other  way. 

If  electricity,  or  animal  magnetism,  or  some  indispen- 
sable subtle  or  occult  influence  were  bestowed  upon  the 


THE   INCUBATOR   BOOM.  303 

eggs  by  the  body  or  feathers  of  the  sitting  hen  that 
could  not  be  furnished  by  art,  it  might  be  impossible  to 
construct  the  incubator  of  the  future  satisfactorily. 
But  so  far  as  is  now  known,  not  including  the  purely 
mechanical  affair  of  change  of  position,  the  only  requi- 
sites for  hatching  are  heat,  moisture  and  ventilation. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

BROODERS. 

Artificial  brooding  and  rearing  include  three  requi- 
sites— warmth,  ventilation  and  exercise.  In  incubation 
there  is  exercise ;  for  the  chick  or  embryo  uses  its  limbs, 
or  their  rudiments,  from  the  sixth  day  on,  including  the 
vigorous  kicks  which  complete  the  hatching.  But  as 
this  exercise  takes  care  of  itself,  it  is  not  included  in  the 
list  of  incubation  requisites,  although  moisture  is.  Cor- 
respondingly, some  moisture  is  needed  in  the  air  the 
chicks  breathe,  but  this  matter  takes  care  of  itself  and 
is  not  included  in  the  requisites,  though  exercise  is. 
Heat  and  ventilation  are  two  requisites  common  to  both 
incubation  and  brooding. 

If  artificial  hatching,  as  carried  on  in  the  ordinary 
commercial  incubators,  meets  difficulty  in  regulating 
moisture,  artificial  brooding  meets  with  a  still  greater 
difficulty  in  governing  heat.  If  no  regulator  is  used,  the 
chicks  are  almost  sure  to  suffer,  at  one  time  or  another, 
from  too  much  or  too  little  heat,  while  if  a  regulator  is 
used,  adjusted  to  some  particular  degree  of  heat,  as  it 
must  be,  of  course,  if  it  is  to  be  used  at  all,  why  every 
time  the  birds  run  under  or  out  of  the  hover,  they 
change  the  temperature,  in  spite  of  the  regulator. 

We  will  try  to  explain  this  matter  fully  because  it  is 
so  seldom  understood.  The  fact  is,  volumes  have  been 
written  on  incubators,  compared  with  single  pages  on 
brooders.  One.  book  has  one  hundred  and  seven  pages 
on  the  incubator  and  one-half  a  page  on  the  brooder. 
Notwithstanding,  common  consent  has  been  given  by 

304 


BROODERS.  305 

experienced,  practical  operators  to  the  proposition  that 
it  is  much  easier  to  hatch  healthy  chicks  in  an  incubator 
than  to  keep  them  healthy  afterwards  in  a  brooder.  As 
regards  the  beginner,  often  he  has  earnestly  studied  the 
construction  and  use  of  the  hatcher,  while  taking  it  for 
granted  that  it  was  perfectly  easy  to  run  the  brooder. 
Later  he  sends  a  communication  for  the  question  box 
of  his  poultry  paper,  asking  why  his  chicks  died  off. 
If  chicks  become  either  seriously  chilled  or  decid- 
edly overheated  at  night,  it  always  means  injury  and 
often  means  death  in  spite  of  all  the  benefit  good 
food,  pure  air  and  exercise  can  give,  though  these  will 
enable  them  to  withstand  more  calamity  in  the  shape  of 
improper  temperature  than  they  otherwise  could.  Yet, 
notwithstanding  the  importance  of  proper  heat,  in  the 
majority  of  cases  the  manufacturers  have  not  provided 
a  regulator  for  the  brooder,  and  their  customers  have 
not  insisted  on  having  one.  Every  brooder  regula- 
tor is  limited  in  the  exercise  of  its  functions  by 
the  chicks  interfering  with  its  operation,  but  it  is 
better  than  none  at  all,  and  two  are  better  yet,  as  will 
be  shown. 

The  matter  will  be  the  better  understood  by  reference 
to  the  working  of  an  incubator,  the  regulator  of  which 
is  set,  say,  for  102  1-2°.  After  the  first  chill  consequent 
on  putting  in  the  eggs  has  been  overcome,  the  tempera- 
ture runs  passably  even  till  the  day  when  it  begins  to 
rise  and  finally  gets  too  high,  though  the  regulator 
has  slowed  the  flame  down  to  the  minimum.  Why  ? 
Because  the  incipient  chicks  are  giving  off  animal  heat. 
What  does  the  operator  do  ?  He  turns  down  the  flame 
still  more.  Now  supposing  he  has  a  good  hatch,  and 
when  the  chicks  get  dry,  and  old  enough,  he  removes 
three-fourths  of  the  number  without  changing  the  lamp 
at  all,  what  will  happen  ?  The  heat  will  go  down  rap- 
idly, and  the  remaining  chicks  will  be  chilled  half  to 
20 


306  AN   EGG   FARM. 

death.  Now  suppose,  instead  of  one  or  two  of  this  sort 
of  fluctuations  in  ten  days  there  were  half  a  dozen  of 
them  or  so  in  twenty-four  hours.  Suppose  twenty  or 
thirty  chicks  are  suddenly  put  into  the  egg  chamber  and 
after  awhile  as  suddenly  withdrawn,  and  this  process 
should  be  repeated  over  and  over  again.  What  can  your 
regulator  do  now  ?  It  certainly  cannot  prevent  extremes 
of  heat  and  cold  from  being  reached.  The  operator 
would  have  to  attend  to  turning  the  wick  up  or  down, 
over  and  over  again. 

Now  apply  this  reasoning  to  the  brooder.  The  regu- 
lator is  set,  we  will  say,  for  98°  and  reaches  and  holds 
that  temperature  all  right  while  the  hover  is  empty, 
waiting  for  chicks.  It  is  at  dusk,  and  a  half  dozen 
come  in.  As  soon  as  they  settle  down  without  exercise, 
their  blood  of  course  slackens  in  its  speed  and  98°  does 
not  feel  warm  enough,  nature  having  regulated  the  hen's 
nest  at  103°.  Therefore,  they  huddle  together  if  there 
is  top  and  bottom  heat,  or  stretch  upward  to  try  to 
reach  the  source  of  warmth  if  there  is  top  heat  only  ;  and 
a  current  of  cool  air  coming  in  near  the  floor  under  the 
curtain,  they  strive  to  get  up  in  the  world  by  trampling 
on  their  fellows,  as  people  do,  while  if  there  is  side  heat 
they  crowd  toward  the  hot  water  tank  or  hot  air  drum. 
They  are  not  very  cold,  but  are  just  cool  enough  to  be 
uncomfortable  and  they  will  keep  in  continual  motion, 
scolding  meanwhile,  saying:  "Keep  still,  won't  you, 
and  let  a  fellow  go  to  sleep."  As  outsiders  come  in,  one 
after  another,  lifting  the  curtain  and  letting  in  gusts  of 
cold  air,  the  temperature  falls,  we  will  say,  to  95°,  caus- 
ing the  regulator  to  turn  on  the  heat  full  blast,  and  by 
the  time  the  whole  brood  gets  massed  together,  squeezing 
weak  chicks  in  the  center  to  death,  98°  is  again  reached 
at  the  point  where  the  thermostat  is,  for  the  curtain  has 
ceased  to  admit  cold  air.  Now  the  regulator  shuts  off  a 
part  of  the  heat,  yet  the  chicks  are  still  too  cool  and 


BROODERS.  30? 

therefore  they  keep  in  motion  when  they  should  have 
all  been  buried  in  slumber  an  hour  ago. 

In  a  little  while  the  animal  heat  raises  the  tempera- 
ture to  103°  at  the  center  and  the  chicks  there  drop  off 
to  sleep,  crooning  a  contented  lullaby  in  spite  of  some 
crowding  going  on  by  their  fellows  at  the  outside  of  the 
group,  where  it  is  99°  or  so.  The  heat  still  rises  because 
there  are  twenty-five,  perhaps  seventy-five,  little  fur- 
naces under  the  hover,  each  108°  inside.  By  the  time 
the  air  at  the  outer  row  of  birds  reaches  103°,  and  they 
squat  down  with  the  contented  exclamation  before 
referred  to,  it  is  probably  106°  at  the  center,  and  rising, 
and  the  chicks  there  are  soon  awakened  from  their  too 
short  nap  by  close,  hot,  foul  air,  reeking  with  dampness 
from  the  dead  bodies  of  a  couple  of  their  mates  lying  as 
flat  as  if  an  elephant  had  trod  on  them.  These  two 
were  crushed  in  the  preliminary  struggle.  Then  begins 
the  strife  of  those  in  the  center  to  get  out.  The  outer 
row  grumble  :  "  Keep  still,  won't  you,  and  let  a  fellow 
sleep,"  and  then  they  begin  to  crowd  with  all  their 
might  against  those  in  the  center.  Now  follows  a  battle 
by  all  hands,  during  which  some  of  the  combatants  open 
the  curtain  flaps,  either  by  running  against  them  in  the 
fight  or  by  running  out  for  a  breath  of  fresh  air,  and  so 
the  center  of  the  room  is  partially  ventilated,  as  the  air 
has  been  stirred  up  by  the  rumpus  and  cooled  somewhat, 
and  the  sleepy  inmates,  having  added  one  or  two  more 
to  the  list  of  dead,  settle  down  again,  the  temperature 
having  been  by  this  time  lowered  sufficiently  to  be 
endurable,  no  thanks  to  the  regulator,  however. 

But,  alas,  there  is  no  rest  for  the  weary.  The  same 
thing  goes  on  over  and  over  all  night,  the  period  between 
the  maximum  and  minimum  heat  being  perhaps  of  an 
hour's  duration.  The  birds  become  exhausted  for  lack 
of  sleep.  The  strongest  do  not  get  into  the  list  of  killed 
or  wounded,  but  all,  whether  at  the  head  or  the  foot  as 


308  AX   EGG    FARM. 

regards  comparative  strength,  will  look  as  if  they  had 
been  drawn  through  a  woodpile  backwards,  after  a  few 
nights  of  such  dissipation,  and  they  will  be  very  sleepy 
in  the  daytime.  Their  keeper,  if  a  novice,  will  begin 
now  to  change  their  feed,  but  if  somebody  punched  him 
with  a  sharp  stick  or  dragged  him  out  of  bed  by  his 
heels  every  time  he  got  fairly  to  sleep  every  night  last 
week,  his  constitution  would  demand  something  besides 
a  change  from  beef  and  potatoes  to  mutton  and  parsnips. 
But  somebody  may  advise  to  set  the  brooder  regulator 
not  at  98°,  but  enough  lower  than  that  to  make  allow- 
ance for  the  rise  after  the  chicks  are  in.  If  the  animal 
heat  raises  the  temperature  12°,  set  your  regulator  at  90° 
and  after  awhile  it  will  rise  to  102°,  the  chicks  will  be 
comfortable  then  and  sleep  till  morning,  he  says.  This 
adjustment  avoids  some  of  the  dangers  inseparable  from 
the  98°  plan,  but  involves  new  ones.  The  chicks  have  a 
longer  period  of  undisturbed  rest  after  they  once  get  to 
sleep  under  the  90°  plan,  but  have  to  undergo  a  longer 
contest  with  the  cold  at  the  start.  To  fight  for  warmth 
while  the  heat  is  slowly  rising  12°  results  in  more  severe 
and  protracted  chilling  than  when  it  is  rising  only  four 
degrees.  Also,  there  is  another  trouble.  The  animal 
heat  is  sufficient  to  run  the  hover  up  to  102°  at  a  little 
after  sundown  when  the  evening  is  comparatively  warm, 
but  as  morning  approaches,  the  air  outdoors  lowers  30° 
and  that  inside  the  brooder  house  15°,  or  if  the  early 
evening  was  still  and  the  wind  rises  toward  morning, 
the  heat  inside  may  fall  20°.  Now  the  struggles  at  the 
start  for  the  warmest  place  resulted  in  a  scrt  of  sifting 
process, — the  weaklings  got  pushed  to  the  outside, — and 
as  morning  approaches,  those  least  fitted  to  withstand  cold 
are  exposed  to  it  the  most.  As  a  mass,  they  are  too 
cold  now,  if  they  were  just  right  at  the  early  part 
of  the  night,  and  if  just  right  now,  they  were  over- 
heated then. 


BROODERS.  309 

We  have  never  succeeded  as  well  at  an  adjustment  at 
either  98°  or  90°,  as  at  94°,  a  mean  between  the  two, 
which  mitigates  some  of  the  disadvantages  of  each, 
though  all  troubles  cannot  be  escaped,  no  matter  how 
you  set  your  regulator.  The  nearest  approach  to  perfec- 
tion in  automatic  regulation  of  a  brooder  consists  in 
having  the  air  of  the  brooder  house  itself  heated  artifi- 
cially and  its  temperature  governed  automatically  to 
guard  against  the  effect  of  fluctuations  of  the  outside 
temperature  during  the  night,  and  have  a  regulator 
attached  to  each  brooder  also,  put  at  98°  as  in  the  first 
instance,  or  99°  or  100°  even,  thus  escaping  the  chill- 
ing when  the  birds  go  to  bed.  Also  have  another  regu- 
lator attached  to  every  brooder  set  at  104°,  this  one  not 
being  connected  with  the  lamp  at  all,  but  with  a  thin,  light 
lid  over  a  circular  opening  one  and  one-half  or  two 
inches  in  diameter  in  the  top  of  the  brooder.  Have 
numerous  small  holes  in  the  curtain.  Then,  with  a  not 
too  numerous  brood  there  will  be  very  little  crowding, 
and  as  the  temperature  can  never  get  below  the  notch 
of  the  lamp  regulator,  and  never  very  much  above  the 
notch  of  the  other  regulator,  there  will  be  no  disastrous 
chilling,  at  any  rate. 

The  ill  effects  of  a  too  cool  hover  when  chicks  are  in 
the  down  are  much  greater,  be  it  remembered,  than  of 
an  overheated  hover.  For  when  the  brood  consists  of  a 
safe  number  of  birds,  the  chicks  can  spread  out  to  cool 
themselves,  nature  having  taught  them  to  do  this,  as 
may  be  ascertained  by  their  avoiding  close  contact  with 
the  hen's  body  of  a  sultry  summer  night,  and  squatting 
close  to  the  outer  rim  of  her.  feathers,  with  their  heads 
entirely  outside. 

This  three-regulator  plan,  two  for  each  brooder  and 
one  for  the  brooder  house,  approaches  the  perfection  of 
natural  brooding,  but  does  not  reach  it,  as  will  be  shown 
further  on  in  the  description  of  the  Brooder  of  the 


310  AK    EGG    FARM. 

Future.  Objections  on  the  score  of  expense  are,  of 
course,  very  apparent.  There  must  be  a  furnace,  a 
boiler  and  pipe  system  for  the  brooder  house  itself, 
either  steam  pipes  or  hot-water  pipes,  in  addition  to 
lamps  for  the  brooders,  and  the  house  must  be  quite 
well  built  and  reasonably  free  from  crevices  around  the 
doors  and  windows,  to  meet  the  case  of  unusual  cold, 
and  winds  especially,  and  the  furnace  fire  carefully 
tended  so  that  the  regulator  can  change  the  furnace 
dampers  to  good  effect.  If  the  season  of  the  year  and 
the  latitude  permit  the  use  of  an  equivalent  number  of 
brooding  hens,  the  management  of  which,  with  their 
broods,  is  properly  provided  for,  mind,  their  employment 
will  be  vastly  less  expensive  than  such  a  good,  complete 
brooder  system  as  is  above  described,  with  triple  regu- 
lators. 

In  place  of  this  plan  of  thorough  automatic  brooder 
regulation,  personal  supervision  may  be  employed,  but 
this  must  be  done  by  a  relay  of  help  and  kept  up  day 
and  night  in  order  to  come  in  competition  with  the  nat- 
ural process  of  brooding.  This  would  be  so  expensive, 
with  a  plant  of  small  brooders  and  small  broods,  as  to 
be  afforded  only  when  pursued  on  a  large  scale  and 
helped  out. by  very  high  prices  for  the  product.  The 
operator  must  pass  up  and  down  the  lines  of  brooders, 
and, — guided  by  thermometers,  or,  better,  by  the  sense 
of  feeling  which,  after  a  little  practice,  becomes  marvel- 
ously  accurate  in  determining  temperatures  in  many 
cases,  and  by  the  behavior  of  the  chicks,  for  they  will 
tell  him  unmistakably  whether  they  are  too  hot  or  too 
cold  or  just  right, — turn  down  a  flame  here  and  raise 
one  there,  eternal  vigilance  being  the  price  of  chickens. 
Expense  again — less  mechanism  than  in  the  triple  reg- 
ulator system,  but  more  labor  in  attendance.  Worst  of 
all,  while  securing  the  right  degree  of  heat,  the  ventila- 
tion of  the  hovers  is  bound  to  be  lacking  whenever  the 


BROODERS.  311 

heat  is  insufficient.  One  important  thing  must  not  be 
neglected, — the  flame  of  the  lamp  must  be  fed  by  air 
conducted  through  a  cold-air  box  communicating  with 
outdoors,  and  the  smoke  and  waste  air  from  the  lamp 
must  be  allowed  to  escape  through  a  flue  leading 
through  the  roof. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

METHODS   OF   HEATING   AND  VENTILATING   BROODERS. 

When  the  rage  for  brooders  began  in  the  United 
States,  brooders  were  all  built  to  have  heat  distributed 
over  the  backs  of  the  chicks,  in  alleged  imitation  of  the 
hen.  They  are  said  to  be  "under  "the  hen  at  night. 
Now  it  is  natural  for  chickens  to  feel  the  feathers  of 
their  mother  upon  their  back,  and  when  the  ground  is 
cool  and  damp,  for  instance  after  cold  rains,  and  they 
feel  chilly  before  becoming  thoroughly  warmed  after 
going  to  bed,  they  will  be  found  standing  up  at  full 
height  to  get  all  the  heat  they  can  upon  their  backs,  and 
will  also  crowd  closely  together  and  towards  their  mother 
to  get  warm.  The  empty  artificial  brooder,  as  com- 
monly used,  without  even  one  regulator,  to  say  nothing 
of  two,  the  operator  cannot  venture  to  heat  to  103°,  the 
temperature  at  the  outside  of  the  hen's  body;  for  the 
vital  heat  of  the  brood  would  soon  make  it  so  hot  that 
they  could  not  stay  in  it  at  all.  He  therefore  aims  gener- 
ally at  about  90°  or  92°  for  quite  young  chicks.  On  first 
entering  the  hover,  they  elevate  their  backs  as  much  as 
possible  and  stretch  their  legs  to  full  length,  even  stand- 
ing on  tiptoe  some  of  the  time,  especially  if  there  are 
loose  folds  of  soft  cloth  overhead  to  imitate  the  hen's 
feathers,  or  a  tank  or  pipes  of  hot  water,  the  radiant 
heat  from  which  they  plainly  perceive  is  above  them. 
Not  content  with  stretching  to  the  utmost  towards  the 
grateful  warmth,  the  biggest,  strongest  fellows  try  to 
climb  upon  the  backs  of  their  companions  to  reach  the 
heat,  and  some  of  the  weaker  ones  are  trampled  to  death, 
as  described  in  previous  pages,  and  their  bodies  form 

31:2 


HEATING   AND   VENTILATING   BROODERS.  313 

platforms  to  stand  on,  the  possession  of  which  is  fought 
for ;  fratricides  fighting  for  the  dead  bodies  of  their 
brethren. 

At  this  stage  in  the  progress  of  brooder  building  the 
idea  appeared  of  locating  the  source  of  heat  supply  some- 
where else.  The  writer  remembers  being  invited  many 
years  ago  to  the  country  seat  of  the  then  president  of 
the  New  York  State  Poultry  association,  which  was  at 
the  time  holding  an  annual  exhibition.  On  arriving  at 
his  place,  after  seeing  his  extensive  poultry  plant,  the 
ruins  of  his  brooder  house,  once  the  largest  in  America, 
destroyed  by  fire  but  a  few  weeks  previously,  were  shown 
us  and  the  proprietor  said,  pointing  to  a  spot  in  the 
ashes:  "  There  stood  the  first  bottom-heat  brooder  ever 
built  in  America."  Very  soon  after  that,  bottom  heat 
was  all  the  rage,  and  the  parties  adopting  it  said  they 
found  decidedly  fewer  chicks  trampled  to  death  and 
pressed  as  flat  as  a  flounder,  and  also  stealthy  visits  made 
by  the  owner  in  the  silent  watches  of  the  night  demon- 
strated that  the  former  struggle,  "  upwards,  upwards, 
still  upwards,"  was  not  going  on. 

But  the  path  was  not  yet  strewn  with  roses.  No  reg- 
ulator was  attached  to  a  brooder  in  those  days,  that  we 
ever  heard  of,  and  if  the  bottom-heat  brooder  were  too 
cool,  the  chicks  would  crowd,  even  if  they  did  not  tram- 
ple, and  if  it  were  too  warm,  their  legs  and  the  under 
parts  of  their  bodies  were  the  first  to  become  overheated. 
It  is  evident  that  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  the 
ground  on  which  the  chicks  rest  never  is  and  never  can 
be  more  than  moderately  warm,  even  when  the  hen  has 
hovered  over  it  all  night,  and  is  frequently  decidedly 
cold,  and  sometimes  frozen  as  solid  as  a  rock,  when  she 
begins  to  brood.  "Weakness  of  the  legs,  general  debility, 
a  tendency  to  go  to  sleep  in  the  daytime  because  resting 
so  poorly  at  night,  and  various  other  symptoms  gave 
warning  that  something  was  wrong. 


314  AN   EGG   FARM. 

Next  followed  the  invention  of  side  heat,  one  of  the 
ablest  advocates  of  which  is  the  eminent  expert,  Mr.  C. 
Yon  Culin,  whose  argument  we  will  let  him  state  in  his 
own  words  : 

"A  brooder  is  supposed  to  take  the  place  of  a  good  hen.  To  do 
this  successfully  it  must  be  made  as  nearly  like  a  hen  as  possible. 
Now  how  is  a  hen  built?  Where  does  the  heat  come  from?  Where 
do  the  chicks  hover?  How  do  they  get  to  and  from  the  heat,  and 
receive  fresh  air  ?  Look  at  the  illustration  of  a  brooding  hen,  and  see 
for  yourself.  Is  not  the  heat  which  tne  chicks  get  from  her  princi- 
pally side  heat  ?  By  chance  a  chick  may  get  cauglit  under  the  breast- 
bone or  under  the  foot  of  a  hen,  but  not  often.  The  wings,  feathers 
ar.d  down  of  the  hen  retain  the  greater  part  of  the  heat  from  the 
body.  The  brooding  chicks  'can  put  their  heads  out  for  fresh  air, 
instead  of  being  crammed  into  a  bunch  and  surrounded  by  from  fifty 
to  a  hundred  other  chicks.  If  they  are  too  warm  they  can  get  out,  if 
not  pinned  down  under  the  breastbone  or  foot  of  the  hen.  The  heat 
from  the  hen  certainly  cannot  be  termed  '  bottom  heat,'  nor  yet  '  top 
heat.'  It  is — a?  she  squats  down  and  her  body  is  surrounded  by  the 
chicks— principally  «  side  heat,'  with  some  top  heat  retained  by  her 
feathers." 

At  about  the  same  time  that  side  heat  was  thought  of, 
a  combination  of  top  and  bottom  heat  was  tried  and  its 
advocates  became  extremely  numerous,  its  superiority 
to  either  top  or  bottom  heat  alone  being  very  evident. 
In  the  combination  plan  a  small  part  of  the  heat  is  dis- 
tributed under  the  brooder  floor  to  check  the  reaching 
upward,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  so  disastrous,  but 
the  most  of  the  heat  enters  near  the  top  of  the  hover 
and  radiating  downwards  meets  the  heat  which  rises 
from  the  moderately  warm  floor,  so  that  the  brood  cham- 
ber is  warmed  throughout.  The  choice  lies  between  the 
combination  and  the  side  heat  plans.  One  great  advan- 
tage of  the  latter  is  that  the  chicks  are  in  a  thin  line 
instead  of  in  a  bunch,  preventing  crowding,  and  they 
can  always  withdraw  from  the  drum  or  tank  by  taking  a 
couple  of  steps,  nature  having  taught  them  to  do  this, 
just  as  they  hug  the  body  of  their  mother  closely  or 
withdraw  from  her,  as  regard  for  their  comfort  dictates 
under  the  varying  conditions  of  wind  and  weather. 


HEATING  AND  VENTILATING  BROODERS.  315 

It  is  worth  noticing  that,  owing  to  the  fact  that  heat 
rises  to  the  top  of  the  hover,  the  side  heat  plan  is  really 
a  combination  plan  as  well  as  the  other.  One  is  a  com- 
bination of  top  and  bottom  heat  and  the  other  is  a  com- 
bination of  top  and  side  heat.  The  writer  unhesitatingly 
prefers  the  Yon  Culm  plan  to  all  others,  provided  that 
the  broods  are  small,  never  exceeding  thirty  chicks,  and 
twenty  or  less  is  better.  This  matter  of  size  of  the 
brood  is  very  important ;  for  when  the  source  of  comfort 
is  at  the  side,  the  chicks  will,  if  lacking  in  warmth  even 
slightly,  crowd  towards  it,  and  if  numerous  enough  to 
form  ranks  three  or  four  deep,  crush  the  inner  rank 
against  the  heat  drum  or  tank  and  make  it  difficult  for 
them  to  get  out  into  the  fresh  air.  There  is  a  similar 
crowding  closely  to  the  body  of  the  brooding  hen,  but 
her  brood  of  the  normal  number  of  twelve  to  fifteen  can 
all  find  room  around  her  without  a  turbulent  outer  rank 
of  malcontents  to  make  misery.  The  drum  of  the  Yon 
Culin  brooder  has  an  external  surface  considerably 
greater  than  that  of  a  hen,  and  a  proportionate  number 
of  birds  can  gather  around  it  comfortably.  We  have 
tried  still  larger  drums  to  warm  forty,  fifty  and  sixty 
chicks  respectively,  and  they  would  all  work  as  well  as 
the  twenty-chick  size  if  the  chicks  could  be  depended 
upon  to  always  range  themselves  evenly  around  it.  In 
fact,  the  drum  might  be  as  big  as  the  Ferris  wheel  and 
serve  to  warm  an  almost  innumerable  number  if  they 
would  all  go  to  bed  in  single  file  with  no  crowding. 
With  only  a  score  or  so  of  birds  and  a  drum  of  a  size  to 
correspond,  no  large  crowd  in  a  riot  is  possible,  while, 
of  course,  the  greater  the  whole  number  the  greater  the 
throng  that  is  liable  to  gather  in  one  spot.  A  merit  of 
the  side  heat,  hot-air  drum  is  that,  as  the  chicks  increase 
in  size,  bigger  drums  and  covers  can  be  substituted 
without  changing  the  lamp  or  dividing  the  broods.  A 
demerit  is  that  since  there  is  a  difficulty  in  always  gaug- 


316  AN   EGG   FARM. 

ing  the  heat  of  the  drum  to  a  nicety,  it  will  overheat 
one  side  of  a  chick  sometimes,  after  it  has  fallen  asleep 
pressed  snugly  against  it  and  the  heat  afterwards 
increases.  Here  the  superiority  of  nature  appears,  as  it 
does  again  and  again,  for  the  heat  of  the  hen's  body  can 
never  rise  unduly.  The  side  heat  combined  with  the 
three-regulator  plan  will  accomplish  all  that  can  be 
accomplished  with  a  covered  hover  without  constant 
supervision. 

The  two  principal  methods  of  warming  hovers  are — 
by  hot  water,  either  in  pipes  or  tanks,  and  by  hot  air. 
The  tank  and  hot-air  styles  are  adapted  to  single  brood- 
ers, each  with  its  lamp  or  its  gas  jet.  The  pipe  method 
is  designed  for  long  rows  of  brooders  placed  side  by  side, 
the  hot  water  circulating  through  pipes  placed  over  the 
birds  (Fig.  136),  or  under  them  beneath  the  floor,  or  both, 
as  may  be  preferred,  the  water  being  heated,  of  course, 
by  means  of  a  boiler  over  a  furnace  for  coal  or  wood 
located  at  one  end,  or  the  center,  of  the  brooder  house, 
as  convenient.  This  obviates  the  necessity  of  filling  and 
trimming  numerous  lamps  when  there  are  many  brood- 
ers, but  there  is  the  disadvantage  of  having  to  fire  up 
just  the  same  when  there  are  but  few  chicks  on  hand  as 
if  the  brooder  house  were  being  run  to  its  full  capacity. 
There  is  a  further  feature,  which  is,  that  the  same  heat 
is  applied  to  all  the  broods.  This  may  be  an  advantage 
under  some  circumstances  and  a  disadvantage  in  others. 

Single  brooders  are  subdivided  into  the  outdoor  and 
indoor  classes,  the  latter,  of  course,  having  no  roof,  as 
the  roof  of  the  brooder  house  in  which  they  stand, 
answers.  The  outdoor  brooders  have  a  roof  of  their 
own,  impervious  to  rain,  and  sides  that  may  be  closed  in 
whole  or  in  part,  in  case  of  strong  winds  or  driving  rain, 
or  snow.  The  advantages  of  the  outdoor  brooder  are 
that  the  chicks  can,  at  the  age  of  only  a  few  days,  have 
outdoor  exercise,  the  weather  admitting,  without  the 


HEATING  ASD  VENTILATING  BEOODERS.  317 

necessity  for  outside  yards  or  roofed  runways,  of  liberal 
area,  or  the  exercising  apparatus  described  in  this  book. 
The  disadvantages,  as  compared  with  the  indoor  brood- 
ers are,  that  the  attendant  has  to  chase  all  over  creation 
to  do  his  work  when  brooders  are  scattered  far  enough 
from  each  other  to  keep  the  broods  from  mixing,  and, 
worse  than  all  the  rest,  the  birds  have  to  be  confined  in 
stormy  weather  to  the  narrow  quarters  of  the  brooder,  a 
serious  matter  in  parts  of  the  country  where  rains  are 
frequent. 

VENTILATING    THE    BROODER. 

If  fresh  air  is  necessary  for  the  chick  in  the  egg,  still 
more  is  it  absolutely  necessary  for  the  chick  under  the 
hover.  How  to  get  rid  of  poison  exhaled  by  the  lungs 
and  still  not  subject  the  young  birds  to  injurious  drafts, 
is  the  problem,  and  it  is  not  an  easy  one  to  solve  either, 
without  elaborate  regulating  apparatus  or  else  constant 
supervision,  both  of  which  entail  much  expense.  You 
can  cheapen  your  arrangements  and  pitch  in  a  lot  of 
birds,  expecting  to  have  fifteen  to  twenty-five  per  cent 
die,  and  sell  the  rest.  But  the  writer  wants  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  any  such  barbarous  practices.  No 
attendant,  who  has  the  suitable  make-up  for  a  good 
attendant,  can  ever  maintain  zeal  and  enthusiasm  when 
he  has  to  officiate  every  day  as  undertaker  and  medical 
director.  It  would  be  amusing,  were  it  not  sad,  to  see 
how  sedulously  the  owners  of  many  brooder  plants  con- 
ceal their  death  rate  statistics. 

When  the  chicks  receive  their  first  warm  coat  of  feath- 
ers, they  are  approximately  like  adult  birds,  which  are 
capable  of  enduring  changes  of  40°  in  twenty-four  hours 
without  much  harm,  if  they  have  plenty  of  exercise  and 
are  sound  and  vigorous  in  every  respect ;  but  the  downy 
chick,  especially  at  night,  cannot  withstand  such  vicis- 
situdes. Yet  the  tender  youngling  needs  pure  air  to 


318  AN   EGG   FARM. 

breathe  as  much  or  even  more  than  the  adult  bird,  and 
always  the  introduction  of  fresh,  cool  air  interferes  with 
the  maintenance  of  steady  heat.  Of  the  two  things, 
warmth  and  pure  air,  one  is  as  important  as  the  other. 
The  earlier  brooders  all  had  covers  or  tops,  two,  two  and 
a  half,  or  three  inches  for  the  youngest  birds,  according 
to  the  breed,  from  the  floor,  and  made  adjustable  so 
that  they  could  be  raised  half  an  inch  at  a  notch  as  the 
birds  grew  older.  This  cover  was  preferably  removable 
for  convenience  in  cleaning  the  floor  of  the  hover  and 
was  made  of  boards  with  six  or  eight  holes  of  one-half 
inch  or  three-fourths  inch  diameter  bored  through  it  for 
ventilation,  some  of  which  could  be  stopped  with  corks 
in  cold  weather  if  desired.  But  the  use  of  this  cover  is 
always  more  or  less  antagonistic  to  a  proper  supply  of 
both  pure  air  and  warmth,  if  the  temperature  of  the 
brooder  house  is  decidedly  cooler  than  that  of  the  hover. 
For  if  you  close  too  many  holes  the  air  will  be  impure 
under  the  cover,  shut  in  as  it  is  by  the  curtain  or  fringe 
surrounding  it,  while  if  you  open  too  many  holes  it  will 
be  too  cool. 

It  is  so  natural  to  conclude  from  the  example  of  the 
mother  hen  that  young  chicks  must  have  something  to 
touch  their  backs,  that  operators  unanimously  adopted 
tops  to  their  brooders  lined  with  sheepskin,  with  the 
wool  on,  or  soft  cloth  depending  in  numerous  folds.  Says 
Von  Culin  : 

"The  flannnel  or  woolen  drapery  which  hangs  down  from  the  hover 
and  helps  retain  the  heat  and  gives  a  feeling  of  cosy  comfort  to  the 
chicks  is  essential.  Nature  gives  them  side  heat  from  the  hen  and 
soft  covering,  the  feathers  of  the  hen,  and  so  must  we  if  we  want  them 
to  be  comfortable  and  thrifty.  Heated  floor  or  ceiling  is  not  enough. 
Would  you  like  to  heat  a  bedroom  \ip  to  70°  or  80°  a)id  lie  on  the  bed  or 
floor  with  no  covering  ?  We  think  you  would'prefer  to  have  the  room 
at  30°  or  40°  and  put  on  a  few  blankets." 

The  above  would  at  first  seem  to  be  conclusive,  but 
after  all,  the  brooder  top  is  but  a  sorry  imitation  of  the 


HEATING    AND   VENTILATING   BKOODERS.  319 

cover  which  nature  gives.  Unlike  the  feathers,  it  is  not 
furnished  with  millions  of  interstices  for  the  air  to  strain 
through,  nor  will  it  permit  the  escape  of  the  poisonous 
elements  derived  from  the  lungs  of  the  birds.  Mr.  John 
Loughlin,  proprietor  of  the  largest  broiler  plant  in  the 
United  States,  conceived  the  idea  of  omitting  the  brood- 
ers, and  put  it  in  execution  with  great  success,  as  suc- 
cess goes  in  artificial  rearing. 

His  hot-water  pipes  have  nothing  whatever  over  them, 
and  the  chicks  congregate  at  night  between  these  pipes 
and  the  floor,  several  hundred  in  a  brood.  By  having 
the  whole  of  the  brooder  room  well  warmed,  the  crowd- 
ing is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  absence  of 'a  top 
over  the  pipes  does  not  make  the  chicks  too  cold,  because 
the  heat  in  the  room,  which  contains  thirty  broods,  is  reg- 
ulated with  great  care,  and  the  room  well  ventilated.  The 
thirty  broods  are  of  thirty  different  ages,  ranging  from 
one  day  to  thirty  days  respectively.  When  past  the  latter 
age  they  are  removed  to  another  room,  heated  to  a  lower 
degree,  and,  like  the  first,  without  tops  over  the  hovers. 
This  first-mentioned  large  room,  with  many  chicks, 
resembles,  as  regards  heat,  the  Brooder  of  the  Future 
which  will  be  described  later.  Mr.  Loughlin  has  shown 
how  a  thing  may  be  done  well,  as  such  things  go,  by 
doing  enough  of  it  so  that  it  will  pay  to  hire  hands  to 
do  it.  Yet,  at  best,  the  death  rate  at  his  establishment 
is  too  great.  Take  all  the  brooder  houses  in  the  coun- 
try, little  and  big,  one-horse  gig  or  six-horse  coach,  the 
trail  of  the  serpent  is  over  them  all,  so  long  as  they  fail 
to  keep  alive  no  more  than  seventy-five  to  eighty-five 
per  cent  of  the  innocents  committed  to  them. 

Unless  the  usual  mortality  of  brooder  chicks  can  be 
reduced,  the  artificial  method  of  rearing  is  of  questiona- 
ble morality  and  a  fit  subject  of  investigation  by  the 
Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals.  A 
friend  of  ours  in  South  Dakota  says  in  a  letter  :  "  Out 


320  AN   EGG    FARM. 

on  the  wild  cattle  ranges  to  the  northwest  of  here, 
ranchmen  with  hearts  of  flint  breed  cattle,  to  have  them 
run  all  winter  without  hay  or  shelter,  subsisting  on  the 
dried  grass  and  running  the  risks  of  unusually  severe 
weather.  Every  three  or  four  years  a  blizzard  or  an  ice 
storm  that  covers  the  grass,  followed  by  zero  weather, 
kills  by  cold,  combined  with  hunger,  one-tenth,  or  one- 
fifth,  perhaps,  of  the  whole.  And  once  in  five  or  six 
years,  sometimes  three-fourths  or  five-sixths.  But  tak- 
ing the  average  of  a  series  of  years  Hie  business  is  profit- 
able. Now  for  every  steer  that  dies  a  lingering  death,  a 
score  or  more  have  their  ears  and  tail  frozen  off  and  one 
or  more  of  their  feet  horribly  mutilated,  but  they  live 
through  it.  Fancy  the  owner  turning  in  his  warm  bed 
at  midnight  and  listening  to  the  storm  !  For  my  part 
I  envy  not  the  make-up  of  a  man  who  is  willing  to  get 
money  that  way.  I  would  rather  work  by  the  day  dig- 
ging ditches.  And  on  the  same  line  concerning  poul- 
try, if  the  mortality  of  broiler  chicks  runs  from  fifteen 
or  twenty  to  forty  or  fifty  per  cent  in  brooders,  then,  I 
say,  to  sheol  with  the  brooders.  Artificial  rearing  of 
chicks  becomes,  in  such  a  case,  an  inquisition  of  torture 
to  poor  dumb  brutes." 

The  coming  generations  will  commiserate  their  prede- 
cessors for  being  so  barbarous,  when  the  time  arrives 
that,  except  through  accident,  as,  for  example,  the 
inroads  of  a  weasel  or  predatory  cat,  the  poultry  keeper 
who  makes  poultry  raising  a  business  will  no  more 
expect  to  have  young  chicks  die  than  nowadays  the 
farmer  expects  to  have  his  young  calves  or  colts  die.  In 
our  newer  states  there  are  no  members  of  the  society 
with  the  long  name  and  everybody  acts  as  he  pleases 
towards  dumb  brutes  and  often  pleases  to  act  contempti- 
bly, but  in  the  older  states  the  society  flourishes,  and 
the  miscreant  who  abuses  a  horse,  or  maltreats  a  cat  or 
dog  even,  unnecessarily,  is  sure  to  hear  from  it.  This 


HEATING   AND   VENTILATING   BROODERS.  321 

shows  that  the  growth  of  civilization  is  sure,  even  if 
slow,  and  justifies  the  prediction  that  when  the  world 
finds,  as  it  will,  that  progress  has  rendered  the  avoid- 
ance of  a  big  death  rate  in  chicken  raising  comparatively 
easy,  such  an  old-time  massacre  of  the  innocents  will 
be  frowned  upon  and  considered  disreputable  in  the  high- 
est degree,  if  not  punished  by  fine  and  imprisonment. 
21 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

THE  BROODER  OF  THE  FUTURE. 

As  the  cheapest  thing  for  extensive  artificial  hatching 
will  prove  to  be  the  large  apartment,  so  the  cheapest 
brooder  the  writer  has  already  found  to  be  a  big  room. 
"Hire  a  hall,"  was  once  a  popular  phrase,  and  it  applies 
here.  To  have  1000  chicks  in  a  brooder  house,  twenty- 
five  in  a  brooder,  will  take  forty  of  these,  to  hold  which 
the  house  will  have  to  be  large  anyway.  As  commonly 
constructed,  the  pens  attached  to  the  brooders  would 
have  to  be  quite  small,  necessitating  restricting  locomo- 
tion of  the  inmates.  There  might  be  forty  outside  yards, 
using  up  a  great  lot  of  building  material  (cost !  cost !) 
but  the  chicks  would  have  to  be  stived  up  closely  in  bad 
weather.  The  indoor  exercisers  might  be  provided,  but 
there  is  "  cost,  cost,"  again.  Now  suppose  the  entire 
floor  of  a  good  sized  room,  built  with  high  walls  to 
enclose  plenty  of  air,  is  accessible  to  each  and  every 
chick  of  the  1000  in  all  weathers.  The  first  published 
account  of  an  arrangement  of  this  kind  was  given  years 
ago  by  that  veteran  poultry  raiser  and  author,  and  noble- 
hearted  man,  Mr.  P.  H.  Jacobs,  who  reared  some  six 
hundred  chickens  in  a  not  large  room  upstairs  in  Chi- 
cago, to  the  age  of  six  weeks,  with  substantially  no 
death  rate.  They  were  then  removed  to  the  country. 
There  was  a  stove  in  the  center  of  the  room,  where  fire 
was  burning  constantly,  and  the  birds  ran  in  one  flock 
all  over  the  room  by  day,  being  separated  at  night  into 
squads  and  lodged  under  hovers  ranged  at  the  walls. 
They  had  runs,  literally,  as  the  whole  floor  space  of  the 

322 


THE  BROODER  OF  THE  FUTURE.         323 

room  was  available  for  each,  but  when  a  brood  is  confined 
in  a  pen  3  or  4  ft.xG  ft.,  as  is  unhappily  often  the  case, 
there  is  no  opportunity  for  the  prisoners  to  get  up  full 
speed. 

Now  for  a  little  improvement  of  the  heating  appa- 
ratus. Instead  of  the  stove,  use  the  combined  hot-water 
and  hot-air  system,  a  method  a  better  than  which  has 
never  yet  been  found  for  warming  dwellings,  the 
same  apparatus  to  answer  for  ten  or  more  rooms,  each  of 
1000-chick  capacity.  Have  attendants  on  duty  day 
and  night,  of  course,  to  govern  the  temperature  of  the 
rooms  absolutely  and  keep  up  a  constant  circulation  of 
fresh  air.  The  chickens  in  one  of  these  big  rooms  must 
all  run  together  in  the  daytime,  and  must  be  all  of  the 
same  age  and  breed,  so  as  to  be  of  the  same  size  and 
strength  as  far  as  possible.  Any  markedly  inferior  or 
superior  birds  to  be  culled  out  from  time  to  time.  The 
whole  floor  to  be  littered,  and  screened  cracked  corn  or 
other  fine  feed  stirred  in.  The  whole  space  not  occupied 
by  the  sleeping  rooms  to  form  one  continuous  exerciser. 
How  to  mix  the  ingredients  ?  Perfectly  simple.  It 
may  not  be  advisable  to  introduce  a  donkey  or  goat  to 
the  floor  to  draw  a  specially  constructed  diminutive  hay 
tedder,  with  many  tines  set  close  together,  to  throw  the 
chaff,  excelsior,  or  short  cut  straw,  for  the  operator  can 
draw  it  himself.  The  chickens  get  in  his  way  and  are 
immediately  annihilated  ?  Not  at  all.  The  machine, 
together  with  the  operator,  must  be  enclosed,  front, 
rear  and  on  all  sides,  by  a  light  movable  frame 
attached  to  the  tedder  and  covered  with  muslin,  with  a 
fringe  of  leather  thongs,  or  tape,  or  narrow  strips  of 
heavy  canvas,  depending  at  the  bottom  in  a  way  to 
always  graze  the  ground.  The  writer  operates  such  a 
screen  and  fringe  out  of  doors,  to  keep  chicks  away 
while  stirring  straw  to  cover  grain  on  the  scratching 
grounds  of  half-grown  chickens,  by  means  of  two  wooden 


324  AN   EGG    FARM. 

handles,  like  wheelbarrow  handles,  only  lighter,  attached 
to  a  wide  girded  waist  belt,  leaving  both  hands  free  to 
distribute  grain.  In  using  the  large  hay  tedder  pro- 
pelled by  a  team,  for  stirring  straw  on  the  scratching 
grounds  of  grown  fowls,  the  driver  uses  one  hand  for  the 
reins  and  scatters  grain  with  the  other,  so  much  for  each 
colonized  flock,  by  measure,  the  entire  outfit,  horse, 
machine  and  all  being  enclosed  with  a  muslin  and  fringe 
screen,  the  frame  of  which  is  attached  to  the  machine 
and  to  the  tips  of  specially  built,  extra  long  shafts  in 
front  of  the  horse.  We  are  planning  an  attachment  for 
both  the  large  and  small  machines,  the  same  for  each — 
except  they  are  of  different  sizes — comprising  some  of  the 
features  of  a  farmer's  field  seed  drill,  so  that  eventually 
we  will  not  have  to  scatter  grain  by  hand.  Millet  and 
Kaffir  corn,  to  the  raising  of  both  of  which  so  large  a 
portion  of  our  country  is  admirably  adapted,  work  well 
in  the  large-room  plan,  and  are  good  grains  for  chicks 
and  fowls  of  all  ages.  Never  allow  the  litter  to  become 
entirely  destitute  of  feed,  for  in  a  good  tight  room,  such 
as  has  been  described,  no  rats  or  mice  can  ever  be  baited 
nights,  and  something  to  eat  should  always  be  ready  for 
the  chicks  whenever  they  are  willing  to  work  for  it. 

"But  the  putting  to  bed  of  so  many  active,  impetuous 
youngsters ;  there's  the  rub,"  we  fancy  the  reader 
exclaims.  There  is  some  work  at  this  point  surely,  but 
no  system  whatever  is  entirely  devoid  of  work.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  feeding,  watering,  heating,  ventilating, 
cleaning  and  providing  exercise,  as  well  as  protecting 
against  all  manner  of  vicissitudes,  are  all  accomplished 
at  the  very  smallest  amount  of  labor  conceivable,  there 
being  so  many  in  a  room  and  so  little  space  or  distance 
to  be  traversed  by  the  attendant ;  therefore  considerable 
time  can  be  afforded  in  putting  the  birds  to  bed.  Not 
so  very  much  time  will  be  needed,  either.  On  occasion, 
the  1000  birds  can  be  penned  with  a  reasonably  even 


THE  BROODER  OF  THE  FUTURE.         325 

division  into  ten  flocks  of  about  100  each,  in  five  min- 
utes, if  the  pens  are  made  right  and  the  doors  are  of  the 
right  size  and  shape  and  move  at  a  touch,  or  eight 
minutes  and  no  hurry.  Afterwards,  in  a  little  longer 
time  each  flock  can  be  subdivided,  by  using  another  set 
of  pens,  into  smaller  flocks  of  any  desired  size  to  prevent 
crowding.  The  whole  operation  can  be  managed  by 
any  person  with  enough  ingenuity  to  be  fit  to  attend  to 
chickens,  without  scaring  them  in  the  least  or  hardly 
letting  them  know  that  anything  has  been  done  to  them. 
Of  course  he  will  shuffle  slowly  through  the  crowd  of 
very  tame  birds,  with  short  steps,  and  will  be  provided 
with  a  specially  coveted  dainty,  that  all  will  be  greedy 
for,  though  well  fed  already,  and  100  chicks  will  get 
into  a  pen  quicker  than  one  would  think  possible. 
There  are  no  bad  effects  in  having  young  birds  sleep 
with  strange  bedfellows  every  night.  It  would  upset  the 
domestic  feeling  and  check  the  yield  of  laying  hens  to 
consort  with  a  changing  crowd,  but  it  makes  little  dif- 
ference to  chicks. 

As  regards  the  temperature  of  the  sleeping  places,  it 
must  be  103°  first,  last  and  all  the  time,  in  the  air 
around  the  birds  when  they  are  very  young.  The  oper- 
ator's business  is  to  hold  the  heat  right.  That  is  what 
he  is  for,  and  he  is  supposed  to  have  every  facility  for 
doing  it,  being  supplied  with  as  perfect  an  apparatus  as 
that  which  was  explained  in  the  description  of  the  Incu- 
bator of  the  Future.  He  can  start  currents  of  air  at 
will,  coming  from  outdoors  and  warmed  before  admis- 
sion. We  said  "sleeping  places,"  not  hovers,  because 
we  would,  as  practiced  at  the  plant  of  Mr.  Loughlin, 
have  no  covers  over  the  hot- water  pipes  the  chicks  stay 
under  o'  nights.  The  floor  they  sleep  on  should  be  a 
little  higher  than  the  floor  of  the  main  room  and  made 
of  wire  cloth  to  let  filth  through  and  admit  air  from 
below  for  breathing.  Thus,  close  air,  exhausted  of  oxy- 


326  AN   EGG    FARM. 

gen  and  loaded  with  carbonic  acid  gas,  will  never  be 
inhaled.  The  best  brooder  top  in  the  world,  no  matter 
how  well  it  is  furnished  with  ventilating  valves  or  shut- 
ters, and  no  matter  whether  these  are  operated  by  auto- 
matic regulators,  or  by  personal  supervision  day  and 
night,  can  never  admit  of  such  a  constant  supply  of  pure 
air  as  no  top  at  all.  When  it  is  too  warm  and  the  valves 
are  opened,  there  will  be  relief  from  the  impure  air  of 
course.  But  suppose  it  is  too  cool.  Why,  the  chicks 
will  be  in  the  same  fix  as  a  person  is,  who,  on  going  to 
bed  of  a  cold  winter  night  in  an  un warmed  apartment, 
puts  his  head  under  the  bedclothes  to  get  warm,  in 
which  case  carbonic  acid  gas  accumulates  rapidly.  Or 
suppose  it  is  neither  too  cold  nor  too  warm  under  the 
hover  but  just  at  the  correct  notch.  Why,  the  tem- 
perature is  all  right  and  the  ventilation  all  wrong.  The 
fact  is,  no  matter  how  much  of  a  stickler  one  is  for  imitat- 
ing nature,  he  cannot  imitate  the  hen's  style  of  a  hover 
top  closely  enough  to  make  the  imitating  business  work 
in  this  instance  ;  and  the  best  imitation  of  the  hen's 
hover-top  conditions  is  produced  by  no  brooder  top  at  all. 
It  being  very  desirable  to  have  chickens  run  and  flap 
their  wings  as  well  as  scratch,  the  size  of  the  room  per- 
mits this,  and  a  feed  shelf  or  other  form  of  feed  dropper, 
as  described  in  another  part  of  this  book,  can  be  very 
easily  fitted  up  at  each  of  the  opposite  sides  or  ends  of 
the  main  littered  area.  The  trouble  with  the  ordinary 
little  indoor  pens  attached  to  single  brooders  is,  that  they 
are  only  6  ft.xS  ft.,  or  10  ft.xl2  ft.,  or  such  a  matter, 
and  a  bird  cannot  get  under  full  headway  in  such  space, 
any  more  than  a  locomotive  can  run  a  mile  a  minute  in 
a  switchyard.  A  large  room  gives  opportunity  for  run- 
ning, flying,  leaping  and  scratching,  irrespective  of  the 
weather.  Each  room  is  supposed  to  communicate  with 
a  large  yard  outdoors,  which  should  also  have  a  feed 
dropper  at  each  end.  There  is  a  special  advantage  in 


THE   BROODER   OF   THE    FUTURE.  327 

allowing  the  birds  outdoors  only  when  the  weather  is 
just  right.  Often  in  winter  there  will  be  a  short  time 
in  the  middle  of  the  day  when  the  yard  can  be  used  to 
good  advantage,  when  access  to  it  nights  and  morn- 
ings would  do  more  harm  than  good.  In  case  of  snow, 
paths  can  be  opened  by  a  snow  plow  and  team  mov- 
ing through  gates  leading  from  one  yard  to  another, 
whereas  the  labor  of  clearing  small  single  brooder  yards 
by  hand  is  discouraging  when  one  snowfall  follows 
another. 


INDEX 


Alfalfa,  for  poultry  25 

for  tilt  boxes  234 

Alley,  sunken  75 

Alternate  system  212 

Bearings,  rounded  192 

Bell  call,  the  165 

Bin,  for  dry  earth  33 

for  earth  141 

Bowel  disease,  cause  of  236 

test  for  241 

Breeders,  houses  for  51 

overfat  120 

Broiler  business  in  New 

Jersey  256 
Broilers,  profits  in  256 
Brooder,  covers  for  318 
house,  details  of  213 
Brooders,  indoor  and  out- 
door 316 
lining  for  318 
mammoth  322 
methods  of  heating  316 
old  style  312 
personal  supervision  310 
regulator  306 
requisites  of  304 
side  heat  314 
ten  to  manage  231 
top  and  bottom  heat  314 
twenty  to  manage  232 
uncovered  319 
ventilating  the  317 
Brooding,  theories  on  269 
Buildings,  protected,  sum- 
mer 50 
special  139 
Business  poultry  keeping  5 
Car  for  transportation  76 
Cellar  for  incubators  83 
Chaff  for  tilt  boxes  234 
Chickens,  by  colony  plan  19 
on  a  small  scale  229 
coops  for  97 
Chicks,  at  hatching  time  279 
cause  of  dead  305 
early  food  for  132 
critical  time  for  132 


Chicks — Continued 

care  of  124 

and  care  of  hens  24:; 

calling  the  163 

feeding  young  100 

feeding  young  123 

feeding  apparatus  for  323 

foes  of  134 

grains  for  ;>L'4 

healthy  L':r> 

litter  for  323 

mortality  of  brooder  257 

number  in  flock  324 

shelter  for  136 

strong,  to  get  130 

temperature  for  young  317 

trained  to  exercise  184 

waterlogged  289 

weaning  100 

Clockwork  for  tilt  boxes  199 

Close  breeding,  place  of  119 

Cold  storage  14 

Combs,  cutting  106 

large,  drawbacks  of  106 

Cook  house  139 

Cooling  not  necessary  283 

Coops,  for  chickens  97 

moving  the  99 

small,  for  chickens  98 

A-shaped  135 

temporary  213 

Colony  plan  17 

Corn,  value  of  116 

Cover  for  feed  shelf  203 

Covers  for  brooders  318 

Crops  for  colony  plan 

Cyphers,  on  incubators  274 

on  moisture  293 

Cylinders,  duck,  filling  189 

feed  155 

for  brooder  house  220 

homemade  193 

operation  of  156,  183 

spool  179 

Disease,  treatment  of  144 

Drag,  homemade  20 

Dressing  fowls,  place  for  141 


INDEX. 


329 


PAGE 

Dropper,  feed  152 

Drum,  hot  air  315 

Ducks,  feed  cylinder  for  187 

laying  186 

Pekin  186 

success  with  186 

Earth,  preparing  dry  29 

storing  dry  32 

supply  of  16 

Egg,  composition  of  287 

route, -an  8 

Eggs,  carrier  for  28 

cooling  281 

fertile  121 

fertile,  to  secure  55,  259 

glazed  by  hen  i>x 

overheated  292 

setting  the  121 

turning  268,  284,  286 

Exercise,  arrangement  for    44 

for  breeders  53 

for  breeders,  need  of  149 

for  chicks,  need  of  2.~>5 

importance  of  46 

in  runways  177 

testing  value  of  255 

to  cure  bowel  disease  237 

Exerciser,    by     alternate 

system  212 

details  of  152 

for  ducks  187 

indoor,  parallel  217 

outdoor  172 

simple  149 

Failure,  cause  of  246 

Feed  box  43 

for  chickens  99 

Feeding,  by  colony  plan    20, 21 

high  pressure,  mode  of  109 

room  43 

soft  food  206 

Feed,  shelf  and  gate  86 

cover  for  203 

pouch  196 

shelf,  indoor  203 

shelf,  operating  201 

sieve  195 

Fences,  movable  51 

Fence,  wire  netting  53 

Fertility,  to  secure^  55 

Floor,  a  dry  49 

construction  of  227 

spare,  for  chicken  coop  137 

Food,  kinds  of  112 

soft,  place  ot  114 

Fowls,  for  breeding,  sale  of  250 

for  sitters  110 

to  an  acre  111 


PAGE 

Gates  for  sitters  85 

Grain,  broadcasting  the  90 

food,  variety  of  113 

for  cylinder  155 

scattering  for  chicks  133 

Granary  and  cook  house  139 

Hammer,  construction  of  197 

homemade  205 

moving  the  204 

operated  indoors  199 
Hammonton, experience  at  257 

Hand  tilt  boxes  230 

Harrow,  homemade  20 

Hatching,  by  wholesale  66 

house  described  83 

management  of  123 

poor,  causes  of  148 

Hatches,  large  secret  of  273 

Heating,  methods  of  142 

two  modes  of  271 

Hens,  when  to  kill  108 

Hospital,  chicken  141 
House,  arranged  for  sum- 
mer                               40,  47 

Houses  for  breeders  51 

House,  for  brooders  213 
for  early  pullets 

for  feeding  in  winter  44 
for  layers 

for  runways  25 

for  sitters  62 

for  sitters,  location  128 

interior  devices  for  39 

movable  22 

protected  48 

winter  36 

winter  care  of  40 

Hover,  a  cool  309 

Inbreeding,  effect  of  119 

Incubation,  and  moisture  287 

difficulties  of  289 

natural  process  of  275 

opinions  on  269 

Incubators,  cheap  270 

cellar  for  83 
Incubator,  cellar,  the  ideal  298 

idea  overworked  69 

lamp  style  of  274 

methods,  various  268 

of  the  future  299 

regulation  of  290 

regulators  274 

requisites  of  256 

room  298 

temperature  of  277 

ventilation  of  294 

antiquity  of  261 

compared  271 


330 


INDEX. 


Incubator—  Continued 

in  Egypt 

inferior  to  hens 

not  economical 

old  types  of 

public  tests  of 

studying 

under  ground 
Insects,  to  prevent 

trap  for 
Intensive  plan 
Jacobs,  P.  H.,  experience 

of 
Labor,  cost  of 

hired 
Lamp,  care  of 

styles  of 
Layers,  and  sitters 

breeds  for 

condiments  for 

feeding  the 

producing 

selecting  for 

separating  from  sitters 
Leghorns,  large  combs  of 
Lice,  killers,  patent 

on  young  chicks 
Location,  an  ideal 

a  northern 

a  southern 
Locations  compared 
Machine  for  turning  eggs 
Machinery,  for  mixing 

importance  of 

regulating  labor 

time  saved  by 
Mats,  use  of 
Meat,  need  of 

scraps,  use  of 
Millet  for  chicks 
Mixing  food  and  straw 
Moisture,  during  incuba- 
tion 

Yon  Culin  on 
Movable  houses 
Nests,  for  sitters 

for  sitters  to  make 

marking  the 
Nursery  apartment 
Pens  and  runways 
Pen,  for  moving  fowls 

temporary  for  chicks 
Perch 

Pit  for  tilt  box 
Platform  for  drying  earth 
Pouch,  wire,  for  feeding 
Poultry,  business,  compe- 
tition in 


AGE                                                                                                PAGK 

Poultry  —  Continued 

261 

industry,  divisions  of 

1 

265 

in  small  flocks 

4 

122 

in  the  south  central  states  2 

261 

plant  of  the  future 

246 

272 

plants  expensive 

246 

274 

Pullets  preferred 

108 

298 

Pure  bred  stock,  sale  of 

250 

144 

Railroad  for  poultry  house 

75 

23 

Range  needed 

111 

146 

Ration,  balancing  the 

114 

Regulation,  double 

309 

322 

Regulators,  for  incubators 

274 

248 

plan  of  three 

310 

248 

Roads  for  poultry  farm 

28 

311 

Room,  large  for  incubators 

300 

274 

87 

Roost  for  hatching  house 
Root  bin 

96 
141 

102 
134 

Runs,  long,  advantages  of 
Runways,  for  breeders 

59 
57 

87 

foi  chicKens 

24 

118 

for  outdoor  exercise 

172 

103 

movable,  for  sitters 

66 

89 

series  of 

175 

104 

Scraper,  earth 

29 

145 

Selection,  for  laying 

119 

124 

of  layers 

103 

9 

Shades  for  fowls  and  chicks 

136 

12 

Shade,  temporary 

45 

10 

Shaft,  homemade 

193 

11 

wooden 

192 

285 

Shelf,  feed 

57 

158 

feed,  operating 

201 

6 

Shelter,  winter 

137 

252 

Shelves,  changing  the 

iiO 

244 

Shovel  for  dry  earth 

30 

49 

Sieve,  for  feeding 

195 

114 

for  indoor  use 

197 

117 

operating  the 

197 

235 

Sitters,  activity  of 

12o 

150 

apparatus  for 

77 

best  fowl  for 

70 

287 

care  of  in  detail 

80 

289 

cost  of 

70 

22 

fowls  for 

110 

63 

habits  of 

275 

122 

handling  the 

95 

89 

houses  for 

62 

141 

in  mild  climates 

74 

176 

in  small  pens 

67 

42 

large  flocks  of 

88 

136 

nest  for 

63 

222 

program  for 

92 

229 

to  remove 

128 

31 

versus  incubators 

72 

191 

Sitting,  to  encourage 

111 

245 

Sled  for  poultry  farm 
Soft  feed,  giving 

28 
206 

INDEX. 


331 


Soil,  kind  of 

Southern  poultry  raising 
Spool  for  cylinder  axle 
Straw,  stirring  the 
System  for  ten  brooders 
Tank,  for  ducks 
Tedder,  use  of 
Temperature,  at  hatching 
time 

for  chicks,  limits  of 

governed  automatically 

in  incubation 
Testing  eggs,  room  for 
Thermostat 
Tilt  box 

axle  for 

compound 

flap  for 

for  brooder  house 

for  small  yards 

layer,  to  manage 

material  for 

operating 

to  turn 

wooden  axle  for 
Transportation  facilities 
Trap,  for  sitters 
Trap  setter 
Trays,  changing  the 
Trough  for  soft  feed 


PAGE 

14 

PAGB 

Turning  eggs,                         284 

ig          2 

Underground  fowl  house       49 

179 

Vegetable  food,                      45 

60 

Ventilation                              47 

3       231 

during  incubation              294 

188 

for  chicken  house                97 

20 

of  chicken  coops                 134 

ing 

of  incubator  cellar            299 

280 

of  main  building                143 

308 

Vigor,  sources  of                   121 

lly    309 

to  secure                                54 

277 

Vitality,  need  of                      57 

299 

Von  Culin  on  moisture         289 

274 

Wagon,  for  carrying  earth     32 

158 

for  poultry  farm 

190,  224 

Watering  fowls,  wagon  for    28 

222 
164 
217,  220 

Water  supply                           26 
Weather  strips                        46 
Weight  for  feeding  appa- 

258 

ratus                                211 

234 

.Western  poultry  farms 

234 

Wild  fowls,  nature  of              3 

159,  165 

Windbreaks                            45 

170 

Windows,  apparatus  for       217 

160 

to  open  and  close                219 

3S        14 

Winter,  house  for                   36 

76 

quarters                                 45 

96 

Wooden  feeding  apparatus  194 

287 

Work  bench                           141 

207 


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horsemen,  embracing:  How  to  breed  a  horse;  how  to  buy 
a  horse;  how  to  break  a  horse;  how  to  use  a  horse;  how 
to  feed  a  horse;  how  to  physic  a  horse  (allopathy  or  ho- 
moeopathy): how  to  groom  a  horse;  how  to  drive  a  horse; 
how  to  ride  a  horse,  etc.  Beautifully  illustrated.  Cloth, 
12mo.  .  $1.50 

Barn  Plans  and  Outbuildings. 

Two  hundred  and  fifty-seven  illustrations.  A  most  val- 
uable work,  full  of  ideas,  hints,  suggestions,  plans,  etc., 
for  the  construction  of  barns  and  outbuildings,  by  prac- 
tical writers.  Chaoters  are  devoted  to  the  economic 
erection  and  use  of  barns,  grain  barns,  house  barns, 
cattle  barns,  sheep  barns,  corn  houses,  smoke  houses, 
ice  houses,  pig  pens,  granaries,  etc.  There  are  likewise 
chapters  on  bird  houses,  dog  houses,  tool  sheds,  ventila- 
tors, roofs  and  roofing,  doors  and  fastenings,  workshops, 
poultry  houses,  manure  sheds,  barnyards,  root  pits,  etc. 
Cloth,  12mo, $1.00 

Cranberry  Culture. 

By  Joseph  J.  White.  Contents:  Natural  history,  history 
of  cultivation,  choice  of  location,  preparing  the  ground, 
planting  the  vines,  management  of  meadows,  flooding, 
enemies  and  difficulties  overcome,  picking,  keeping,  pro- 
fit and  loss.  Cloth,  12mo $1.00 

Ornamental  Gardening  for  Americans. 

By  Elias  A.  Long,  landscape  architect.  A  treatise  on 
beautifying  homes,  rural  districts  and  cemeteries. "  A 
plain  and  practical  work  with  numerous  illustrations  and 
instructions  so  plain  that  they  may  be  readily  followed. 
Illustrated.  Cloth,  12mo.  .  .  .  .  .  .  $1.50 

Grape  Culturist. 

By  A.  S.  Fuller.  This  is  one  of  the  very  best  of  works 
on  the  culture  of  the  hardy  grapes,  with  full  directions 
for  all  departments  of  propagation,  culture,  etc.,  with 
150  excellent  engravings,  illustrating  planting,  training, 
grafting,  etc.  Cloth,  12mo $1.50 


STANDARD   BOOKS. 

Edward  Eggleston's  Standard  Works. 

The  End  of  the  World. 

A  love  story  by  Edward  Eggleston.  In  love  with  a  Dutch- 
man; An  explosion;  A  farewell;  A  counter-irritant;  At  the 
castle;  The  backwoods  philosopher;  Within  and  without; 
Figgers  won't  lie;  The  new  singing  master;  An  offer  of 
help;  The  coon-dog  argument;  Two  mistakes;  The  spider 
spins;  The  spider's  web;  The  web  broken;  Jonas  expounds 
the  subject:  The  wrong  pew;  The  encounter;  The  mother; 
The  steam  doctor;  The  hawk  in  a  new  part;  Jonas 
expresses  his  opinion  on  Dutchmen;  Somethin'  ludi- 
kerous;  The  giant  great  heart;  A  chapter  of  bet  weens; 
A  nice  little  game;  The  result  of  an  evening  with  gentle- 
men; Waking  up  an  ugly  customer;  August  and  Norman; 
Aground;  Cynthy  Ann's  sacrifice;  Julia's  enterprise;  The 
secret  stairway;  The  interview:  Getting  ready  for  the 
end;  The  sin  of  sanctimony;  The  deluge;  Scaring  a 
hawk;  Jonas  takes  an  appeal;  Selling  out;  The  last  day 
and  what  happened  in  it;  For  ever  and  ever;  The  mid- 
night alarm;  Squaring  accounts;  New  plans;  The 
shiveree.  Price,  postpaid $1.50 

The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster. 

By  Edward  Egglestcn.  A  private  lesson  from  a  bull-dog; 
A  spell  coming;  Mirandy,  Hank  and  Shocky;  Spelling 
down  the  master;  The  walk  home:  A  night  at  Pete 
Jones's;  Ominous  remarks  of  Mr  Jones;  The  struggle  in 
the  dark;  Has  God  forgotten  Shocky?  The  devil  of  si- 
lence; Miss  Martha  Hawkins;  The  hardshell  preacher; 
A  struggle  for  the  mastery;  A  crisis  with  Bud;  The 
church  of  the  best  licks:  The  church  militant;  A  coun- 
sel of  war;  Odds  and  ends;  Face  to  face;  God  remembers 
Shocky;  Miss  Nancy  Sawyer;  Pancakes;  A  charitable  in- 
stitution; The  good  Samaritan;  Bud  wooing;  A  letter  and 
its  consequences;  A  loss  and  a  gain;  The  flight;  The 
trial;  "Brother  Sodom;"  The  trial  concluded:  After  the 
battle;  Into  the  light;  "How  it  came  out."  Price,  post- 
paid, $1.25.  Library  edition,  price,  postpaid.  .  $1.50 

The  Mystery  of  Metropolisville. 

By  Edward  Eggleston.  Words  beforehand;  The  autocrat 
of  the  stage  coach:  The  sod  tavern;  Land  and  love;  Al- 
bert and  Katy;  Corner  lots:  Little  Katy's  lover;  Catching 
and  getting  caught;  Isabel  Marlay;  Lovers  and  lovers; 
Plausaby,  Esq.,  takes  a  fatherly  interest;  About  several 
things;  An  adventure;  A  shelter;  The  inhabitant;  An 
episode;  The  return;  Swaney  and  his  old  love;  A  collision; 
Standing  guard  in  vain:  Sawney  and  Westcott;  Rowing; 
Sailing;  Sinking;  Dragging;  Afterwards;  The  mystery; 
The  arrest;  The  temper;  The  trial;  The  penitentiary; 
Mr  Lurton;  A  confession;  Death:  Mr  Lurton's  courtship; 
Unbarred;  Isabel;  The  last;  Words  afterwards.  Price 
postpaid $1.50 


UNFV 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBR 

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"867? 


